Book Bite: "Great Expectations"

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."

- Great Expectations (1860) by Charles Dickens

Book Bite: "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

"Slush is frozen over. People say that winter lasts forever, but it's because they obsess over the thermometer. North in the mountains, the maple syrup is trickling. Brave geese punch through the thin ice left on the lake. Underground, pale seeds roll over in their sleep. Starting to get restless. Starting to dream green."

- Speak (1999) by Laurie Halse Anderson

Book Bite: "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"

"Sometimes, I look outside, and I think that a lot of other people have seen this snow before. Just like I think that a lot of other people have read those books before. And listened to those songs. I wonder how they feel tonight."

- The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999) by Stephen Chbosky

Book Bite: "Pointe" by Brandy Colbert

"I've been dancing so long that ballet has become an extension of me. I can no longer stretch my legs without pointing my toes, and I'm always aware of my arms, my back, the roll of my shoulders. As I walk between classrooms, while I'm rinsing dishes, even when I'm picking out apples with Mom at the market."

-- Pointe by Brandy Colbert (2014)

Book Bite: "The Book Thief" by Marcus Zusak

“People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spot blues. Murky darkness. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.”

-- The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (2007)

Book Bite: "The Difference Between You and Me" by Madeleine George

"If you do something, you become a target. People want to take you down. That’s a risk. But it’s better to do too much, better to try too hard, better to have a crisis of faith and get thrown and climb back up on your horse and keep riding, than to see something wrong in the world and not do anything at all."

- The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George (2012)

Book Bite: "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

“Cold and silence. Nothing quieter than snow. The sky screams to deliver it, a hundred banshees flying on the edge of the blizzard. But once the snow covers the ground, it hushes as still as my heart.” 

- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (1999)

Book Bite: "The Patron Saint of Pigs" by Lauren Myracle

“Christmas is never over, unless you want it to be... Christmas is a state of mind.”

- "The Patron Saint of Pigs" by Lauren Myracle in Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle (2008)

Book Bite: "A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle" by John Green

“I always had this idea that you should never give up a happy middle in the hopes of a happy ending, because there is no such thing as a happy ending. Do you know what I mean? There is so much to lose.”

- "A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle" by John Green in Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle (2008)

Book Bite: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says 'Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.'” 

- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (1865)

Book Bite: "The Jubilee Express" by Maureen Johnson

“Debbie had to get up and slice me a thick piece of cake before she could answer. And I do mean thick. Harry Potter volume seven thick. I could have knocked out a burglar with this piece of cake. Once I tasted it, though, it seemed just the right size.”

- "The Jubilee Express" by Maureen Johnson in Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle (2008)

Book Bite: "Looking for Alaska"

“I hated cranberry sauce, but for some reason my mom persisted in her lifelong belief that it was my very favorite food, even though every single Thanksgiving I politely declined to include it on my plate.” 

- Looking for Alaska by John Green (2005)

Book Bite: "Delirium" by Lauren Oliver

“My heart is drumming in my chest so hard it aches, but it's the good kind of ache, like the feeling you get on the first real day of autumn, when the air is crisp and the leaves are all flaring at the edges and the wind smells just vaguely of smoke - like the end and the beginning of something all at once.”

- Delirium by Lauren Oliver (2011)

Book Bite: "Same Difference" by Siobhan Vivian

“Fall colors are funny. They’re so bright and intense and beautiful. It’s like nature is trying to fill you up with color, to saturate you so you can stockpile it before winter turns everything muted and dreary.”

- Same Difference by Siobhan Vivian (2009)

Book Bite: "Wither" by Lauren DeStefano

“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.” 

- Wither by Lauren DeStefano (2011)

Book Bite: "Farewell Summer" by Ray Bradbury

“[His] library was a fine dark place bricked with books, so anything could happen there and always did. All you had to do was pull a book from the shelf and open it and suddenly the darkness was not so dark anymore.”

- Farewell Summer by Ray Bradbury (2006)

Book Bite: "The Fault in Our Stars"

“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.”

- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2012)

Book Bite: "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe"

“Summer was here again. Summer, summer, summer. I loved and hated summers. Summers had a logic all their own and they always brought something out in me. Summer was supposed to be about freedom and youth and no school and possibilities and adventure and exploration. Summer was a book of hope. That's why I loved and hated summers. Because they made me want to believe.”

- Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (2012)

Book Bite: "The Fault in Our Stars"

"Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. And then there are books like An Imperial Affliction, which you can't tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal."

- The Fault in Our Stars (2012) by John Green

Book Bite: "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson

The snow drifts into our zombie mouths crawling with grease and curses and tobacco flakes and cavities and boyfriend/girlfriend juice, the stain of lies. For one moment we are not failed tests and broken condoms and cheating on essays; we are crayons and lunch boxes and swinging so high our sneakers punch holes in the clouds. For one breath everything feels better.

Then it melts.

The bus drivers rev their engines and the ice cloud shatters. Everyone shuffles forward. They don't know what just happened. They can't remember.

- Wintergirls (2009) by Laurie Halse Anderson