How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Her mom was trying not to make a big deal of this, but they both knew it was out of the ordinary. Laurel rarely felt hungry. Her parents had bugged Laurel about her weird eating habits for years. She ate at each meal to satisfy them, but it wasn't something she felt she needed, much less enjoyed. (1.112)
This is one of our first clues that Laurel's biology might be something different from normal humans, since there are very few people out there who don't need to eat. It also shows how much eating habits are a part of daily life for humans, what with shared family meals and all that stuff.
We admit that we initially wondered whether Laurel might have an eating disorder or something—so we're pretty relieved that the explanation, while scary for her at first, is less damaging.
Quote #2
"I can't stand that cafeteria. If I have to be indoors all day, I need to spend lunch outside. I guess with all the freedom of homeschooling for ten years I'm having trouble relinquishing it so quickly." (2.35)
Or, Laurel, you're a plant that benefits from stuff like fresh air and photosynthesis. Just sayin'. Although being a homeschooled kid does seem ideal for someone like her who's actually a faerie, since she could do her homework and studying outside instead of inside whenever she felt like it. Just another reason why high school stinks for plant-people and nature-lovers.
Quote #3
After pulling on a sundress, she grabbed her mom's old guitar from its case by the back door before slipping silently out to enjoy the crisp quiet of the early morning. Late September had chased away the bright, clear mornings and brought instead the fog that rolled off the ocean and lingered over the town until early afternoon. (4.2)
This is just one of many weather and natural scenery descriptions that occurs throughout the book. Because Laurel is super tuned-in to nature (even before discovering that she's a faerie), she always observes her natural surroundings. And because we always see the world through her eyes, this means a lot of nature descriptions.
Quote #4
All of the petals were tinged a dark blue at the center that faded to the softest sky blue in the middle and white at the ends. The edges were ruffled and looked eerily like the African violets her mother painstakingly grew in the kitchen. There must have been twenty of the soft, petal-like strips. Maybe more […] They looked almost like wings. (5.10)
To say that it's jarring for Laurel to notice the similarity between the thing sprouting from her back and actual flowers (like the African violets) is an understatement. Sure Laurel's always been close to nature, but suddenly having something from nature growing on your skin is a whole different story. Though better a flower than eczema, right?
Quote #5
"You don't have a heartbeat, Laurel. You probably don't even have a heart." (10.126)
Way to drop the bomb gently, David. Laurel spends her whole life thinking she's human, and then—bam—it turns out she's not. Add in the fact that the heart has intense metaphorical and emotional associations in Western culture, and yeah, we can see why Laurel's pretty shocked at this bit of news.
Quote #6
"He was right about you being a plant. Maybe he was right about…about you being a faerie."
"How can you even say that where your microscope can hear you, David? […] It might stop working if it realizes its owner is so unscientific." (11.87-88)
David sure is good at studying the natural world through his microscope, but Laurel jokes that it might stop working if it hears that David is so unscientific as to believe in faeries. This is an especially funny statement once you think about the fact that science works precisely because the tools and measurements don't care what you believe in, just what you do. It's that whole empirical research thing, and it's gotten us pretty far in learning about the natural world, thank you very much.
Quote #7
"Why am I a Fall faerie?"
"Because you were born in the fall. That's why your blossom grows in the fall." (13.108-109)
Laurel's birth season determines her faerie type, and apparently it works that way for all faeries. It's kind of like a season-based version of astrology, except it not only determines your personality, but also your abilities.
Quote #8
"What else do you eat?"
"Strawberries, lettuce, and spinach. Apples sometimes. Basic fruits and vegetables."
"You eat a variety, so your hair and eyes don't pick up on any certain color… they just stay light… Try eating nothing but strawberries for a week—that'll give your mother a shock." (14.67-69)
Laurel's eating habits (a variety instead of just one thing) keep her looking pretty normal for a human, which is probably a good thing. Imagine if human biology worked that way too: We'd have people walking around with the coloration of hamburgers and sodas. Also, Laurel's diet is a reminder that she lives in California, where fresh produce is constantly available. Good luck trying to eat like that in Minnesota in the winter.
Quote #9
Laurel thought of Tamani's words earlier that day. Pollination is for reproduction—sex is just for fun. She wondered what her mom would say if Laurel told her she couldn't get pregnant—and would never start her period. That sex for her was just sex, with no strings attached. (15.16)
Yeah, if you take away the reproductive aspect of sex, that totally changes what it means in the human world. We get the sense that Laurel's not entirely sure what she thinks about this. Like, she only recently got into boys, and sex isn't really on her radar yet, though kissing it. If she's not human (and thus lacks hormones), maybe she lacks the sex drive that most humans naturally have? What is that going to be like for her? On the plus side, apparently being a faerie comes with built-in birth control.
Quote #10
"Trolls are—well, they're almost a glitch in evolution. They're animals, like you, David—primates, even. But they're not quite human. Stronger than humans, as you discovered—able to heal faster, too. It's like evolution tried to make a superhuman of sorts, but it got a little messed up." (21.12)
Thanks, Tamani, for this explanation of where trolls fit into the natural order (other than under the category of "Really freakin' ugly"). We wonder, though, why faeries have the concept of evolution… Did they borrow it from the humans? Did they come up with it first, and the idea got leaked to humans at some point?
Since faeries are so close to nature, it could be that they've spent enough time observing it to have a sense of how these things work, and Tamani is just using the human word for the same thing to make it easier to talk to David and Laurel about it. It's a good reminder that we are all part of nature, no matter which words or concepts we use to discuss it.