How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I don't feel qualified to homeschool you anymore. Truth be told, I probably should have put you in middle school. It was just such a long drive from Orick and your dad was commuting already and… anyway. It's time." (1.95)
Laurel's mom think it's time for Laurel to grow up and go to public high school, even if Laurel's not too keen on the idea. Everyone has to grow up and learn to cope with big life changes, after all.
Quote #2
After only three days, the school was beginning to be more familiar; she didn't feel so lost, and even the crush of people that had been so overwhelming on Monday wasn't quite so bad today. For the first time since leaving Orick, Laurel felt like she belonged. (2.39)
Part of coming of age includes figuring out who you are and where you fit in (if you even want to fit in… not everyone does). Laurel's on her way, though. It totally helps that she's made some new friends who help her ease into this transitional time in her life. We're thinking that having friends helps with just about everything, not just coming of age. Now we feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Quote #3
It made her feel strangely normal to get her first zit; like a rite of passage. She hadn't experienced puberty quite like the textbooks described it. She never got zits and, although her chest and hips had developed the way they were supposed to—a little early, actually—at fifteen and a half she still hadn't started her period. (4.16)
Puberty is one of the physical signs of coming of age, when your body starts to develop adult characteristics (and your mind, hopefully, is not far behind). But for Laurel, puberty is a mixed bag: She's got some stuff going on, but not the rest, and we can see where it'd make her feel like she doesn't quite fit in. It must feel awkward not being able to contribute to the locker-room conversations teenage girls have about their periods and stuff.
Quote #4
This was way more than some strange manifestation of puberty. Mood swings, disfiguring acne, even periods that went on for months were at least semi-normal. But growing oversized flower petals out of your back from a zit the size of a softball? This was something else entirely. (5.32)
Poor Laurel… none of the "normal" puberty horror stories came true for her. Those, at least, she would've had a cultural script for handling. But having plant matter growing out of your skin is pretty much unprecedented in the world of teenage trauma and angst, and because it's such a strange problem, Laurel ends up feeling pretty isolated until she decides to confide in David. That, at least, is pretty normal for coming of age anxieties: Everyone feels alone with what they're going through, until they manage to open up to someone.
Quote #5
At lunch, Laurel sat and watched David…She hadn't thought much before about how handsome he was, but the last few days, she'd found herself looking at him more and more, and twice already during lunch he'd turned and caught her. He was starting to provoke the butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling she'd always read about in books. (7.76)
There are so many movies and books about teenage life that of course Laurel knows that she "should" start feeling a certain way about a special someone. But she's never felt it before, possibly because she's always been a little isolated due to being homeschooled, or because she's more of a loner. But yeah, starting to experience attraction is usually one of the signs that you're growing up and maturing.
Quote #6
"It's the magic of the realm. It seeps in from the world of the faeries… You felt it before—I know you did. That's why you love this bit of land so much. But now that you know what you are and you've blossomed for the first time, it will be stronger." (14.36)
Here Tamani enlightens Laurel as to why she feels these groovy good vibes when she's on her parents' land in Orick: As a faerie, she feels the pull of the faerie homeland seeping through the gate. Apparently the pull gets stronger once you've done the faerie-equivalent of going through puberty. We wonder if there's a parallel for humans, too: Once we discover who we're becoming as adults, do our passions intensify?
Quote #7
"Things are very different in the faerie realm. There's not much time to be a child and not enough adult faeries to just sit around and watch kids play. Everyone has a role and a purpose, and they take on those roles very early. We grow up quickly." (14.154)
Thanks, Tamani, for filling us in on how this works. It sounds like growing up in faerie-land isn't as enchanting as we humans imagine it to be. No pixie dust, and having to grow up and take on responsibilities pretty much immediately? We'll pass, thanks.
Quote #8
Laurel shrugged. "I really don't know. Sometimes I think that's what I want, but I've never had a boyfriend before. I've never really even had a guy who was a close friend. I like it a lot… I don't want to lose that part." (16.63)
Part of growing up includes figuring out what you want in life, and then going and getting it. Except when it is another person, stuff gets complicated. Laurel is definitely into David, but she's not sure precisely how to go about exploring her feelings for him. We give her props here for being mature enough to know what she doesn't know, instead of stupidly rushing in and risking breaking one or both of their hearts.
Quote #9
"You've been very brave," Jamison said in that sweet, angelic voice. "We didn't think we would need you so soon. But things never go quite as planned, do they?" (23.73)
The whole point of Laurel's life among the humans is for her to grow up, inherit her parents' land, and keep it safe for the faeries. But the whole gamble is based on deceit (deceiving Laurel's parents, who thought they had a human child, and deceiving Laurel, who thought she was human).
Clearly the lie couldn't have lasted forever, but when would be a good time to tell Laurel? When would she be mature enough to handle the truth about her origins? The trolls basically forced the truth-revealing process to go faster than it might have otherwise, for better or for worse. At least Jamison is wise enough to acknowledge that.
Quote #10
"I've watched you for years. Watched you grow from a little girl to a full-grown faerie. We were best friends when we were little, and I've been with you almost every day for the last five years. Is it so unreasonable for me to have fallen in love with you?" (25.77)
Tamani got to watch Laurel come of age, even though she didn't know it at the time, since the faerie sentries had to stay hidden while keeping an eye on Laurel. It must've been neat to see her growing up and becoming her own person, but maintaining a distance must've been hard, too. Laurel seems to have matured into a kind and resourceful person overall, which is great—she'll need all the help she can get as this whole being-a-faerie business turns her life upside down.