How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Line)
Quote #1
But, to hear her tell it, you'd think she was still in some high and mighty private school—always finding some kind of way to drop it into a conversation, always wrinkling her nose at me like she couldn't even believe we had to share the same air. (2.9)
Maribel is the snootiest girl in the class—and that's because she used to go to private school and still prides herself on being richer and fancier than everyone else. It drives Frannie absolutely nuts.
Quote #2
Everybody at our school got lunch for free except Maribel Tanks—but my mama said that was just Maribel's mama putting on airs. Maribel's mama owned Tanks Groceries, but we didn't shop there because the prices were way too high. (2.13)
Even though Maribel goes to school with the rest of the kids and lives in the same community, she deliberately sets herself apart. She thinks that she's too good to even get the free school lunch like they do.
Quote #3
"What's wrong with pennies," I said, taking another big bite before even swallowing all of the last one. "Pennies are money like anything else."
Maribel sighed—one of those trying-to-sound-like-a-grown-up sounds. "Oh Frannie." (2.23-24)
Every sixth grader wants to be condescended to by a "friend" about money… right? Just kidding. Frannie absolutely hates it when Maribel acts like she knows more just because her family has more money.
Quote #4
I'd been so embarrassed when I left Samantha's house that day. There wasn't any chicken because there hadn't been any money for chicken. But I didn't know that until I got home and Mama explained. (12.29)
Oops… that's embarrassing. Frannie definitely commits a social faux pas when she asks Samantha's mama where the chicken is at dinner—only to later find out that they couldn't afford the chicken.
Quote #5
I had gone to school the next day and apologized to Samantha, but she'd just said, Forget about it, there'll be chicken on Friday when my mama gets paid. You could come for dinner then if you want to. And that next Friday I went to her house and ate her mama's baked chicken and we never talked about it again. (12.30)
The nice thing about Samantha is that she doesn't make a big deal about the fact that her family is poor. She doesn't feel sorry for herself, but instead, she treats it as a fact of life and accepts it without question.
Quote #6
It's like that, Frannie. The hearing girls are the bridges. They're the other worlds. They're the worlds I can't just walk across and into, you know.
Kind of.
I mean, the deaf girls, they're my world—we don't even have to talk and we know each other. But I don't just want my world. I want everybody else's world too. (13.26-28)
It's not just hard for Sean to be rejected by pretty girls. He also hates being left out of the world that the girls represent—the world of larger society. Sean just wants to know what it's like to be a part of the rest of the hearing world.
Quote #7
Maribel came over to us and stood next to Samantha. I rolled my eyes. She was wearing a new pair of platform boots—the shiny leather kind with the buckle. When I'd asked Mama if I could get them, she'd given me a look and said, You can't even walk right in flat shoes! (14.12)
Maribel is pretty much the only girl in their class who can afford all the fancy new clothes that they long for. It makes people like Frannie jealous—but it also makes them mad when they see her strutting around.
Quote #8
There was a hole in one of her mittens. When she saw me looking at it, she put her hand in her pocket. (16.8)
Most of the time, it doesn't even cross Frannie's mind that Samantha is poor, or that her family doesn't have enough money for lots of food and new clothes. But sometimes, the reality of Samantha's financial situation becomes clear.
Quote #9
The next morning, the Jesus Boy came up to me just as we were lining up to go inside. He looked like he wanted to say something, then just looked down at the ground. After a moment, he raised his head again.
"I probably shouldn't have talked about his daddy, huh?" (18.1-2)
Even though Jesus Boy spoke out in anger, he realizes that he took a cheap shot in making fun of Trevor's family—since Trevor doesn't have a daddy like everyone else. That was a messed up thing to say.
Quote #10
I stared down at my blank notebook page, wondering what to write. Here's the list I came up with.
-We all go to Price.
-We all wear clothes.
-All of us kids live on this side of the highway.
-We all walked in the snow at least once this winter. Maybe a hundred times. (18.26)
Frannie may not always feel a great kinship with her fellow classmates—especially with people like Maribel and Trevor—but she realizes that they're not all so different. No matter what their families look like, or how much money they have, they're all the same.