How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
When she died and all her brothers and sisters passed me from house to house, nobody ever wanted to take care of me for long… (1.4)
Summer may have lived in lots of houses as a kid, but none of them really counted as a home. It's only when she comes to live with Aunt May and Uncle Ob in their rusty little trailer that she understands what a home is.
Quote #2
Home was, still is, a rusty old trailer stuck on the face of a mountain in Deep Water, in the heart of Fayette County. It looked to me, the first time, like a toy that God had been playing with and accidentally dropped out of heaven. (1.6)
This doesn't exactly sound like the description of a dream home to us, but it's pretty much heaven to Summer. She can tell it's a place where she'll be very happy and well looked after, which is all that matters at the end of the day.
Quote #3
Whirligigs of Fire and Dreams, glistening coke bottles and chocolate milk cartons to greet me. I was six years old and I had come home. (1.14)
Uncle Ob and Aunt May sure know how to make a six-year-old feel at home. When Summer enters the rusty little trailer, she doesn't care that it isn't a mansion—she just wants to play with the magical whirligigs and eat all that delicious food.
Quote #4
Ob was never embarrassed about being a disabled navy man who fiddled with whirligigs all day long, and I never was embarrassed about being a kid who'd been passed around for years. (2.40)
Within the confines of their home, Ob and Summer are completely comfortable. They don't feel self-conscious because they know that they can be completely themselves here—Aunt May gives them the room to do so.
Quote #5
"I never was no hand at housekeeping. Maybe there was a time I could've learned. But it's too late for me now, and I don't know that I can do all that needs to be done to keep this place running." (6.43)
Without May, Uncle Ob and Summer are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. They seriously don't know what to do to keep their home alive. They're pretty lost without her to guide them.
Quote #6
I knew he meant me—he meant keep me running. The trailer could take care of itself. He wasn't so sure I could. (6.44)
Oh, geez. Is Uncle Ob talking about sending Summer away? We know that Summer would never be happy with that; she's stuck on Uncle Ob and May. They're her parents now.
Quote #7
And I knew in an instant that this was not the same boy who had been coming to us with his battered old suitcase all these weeks. This was a different boy, and I knew, even before I set one foot inside his house, that here in this place, he was a much-loved boy. (8.13)
Cletus may be an oddball at school, but at home he calms down a lot. It's as though he's a different person when he's in his home because he feels secure and free from judgment.
Quote #8
I felt in me an embarrassing sense of pride that she was ours. That we weren't just shut-down old coal mines and people on welfare like the rest of the country wanted to believe we were. We were this majestic, elegant thing sitting solid, sparkling in the light. (9.24)
West Virginia may not be the most impressive place to the rest of the world, but it's home for Uncle Ob, Summer, and Cletus. Seeing the capitol just reinforces their belief that their home is special and worth loving—it shouldn't be overlooked at all.
Quote #9
I laid my head on his shoulder, so grateful he was still here with me, grateful even for Cletus, who I knew was somewhere in the trailer, waiting. (11.24)
Their trip to the capitol building may have been wondrous and magical, but it's still good to be home at the end of the day. Summer learns to be grateful for all the things that are familiar and comfortable—even Cletus.
Quote #10
I said, "Good morning," and they both grinned at me and said good morning back. Then we all three ate ourselves nearly to oblivion on the best eggs and bacon I ever tasted in my life. (12.4)
At the end of the book Summer gets her real home back. May might not be around anymore, but Ob's stepping in and acting like a real guardian again—and that's priceless.