“There are those hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken. Or if they do mend, they heal themselves in a crooked and lopsided way, as if sewn together by a careless craftsman. Such was the fate of Chiaroscuro. His heart was broken. Picking up the spoon and placing it on his head, speaking of revenge, these things helped him to put his heart together again. But it was, alas, put together wrong.”

“But that is impossible," said Peter."Magic is always impossible," said the magician. "It begins with the impossible and ends with the impossible and is impossible in between. That is why it is magic.”

“No one cared what she wanted. No one had ever cared. And perhaps, worst of all, no one ever would care.”

“Besides, who ever asked you what you wanted in this world, girl?The answer to that question, reader, as you well know, was absolutely no one.”

“He was a squirrel. Could he be a superhero, too?”

“Every well-written book is a light for me. When you write, you use other writers and their books as guides in the wilderness. ”

“This is a wonderful joke to play upon a prisoner, to promise forgiveness.”

“It is our duty and our joy to communicate our hearts to each other. Words assist us in this task.”

“She might be a natural-born cynic, but she knew the right word when she heard it.”

“Like most hearts, it was complicated, shaded with dark and dappled with light.”

“We forget that the simple gesture of putting a book in someone's hands can change a life. I want to remind you that it can. I want to thank you because it did. - 2010 Indies Choice Award”