“They had argued a lot, but then suddenly they stopped fighting and began speaking calmly to each other, like they were strangers. That’s when I knew something was really wrong. Mo eventually explained that she and my father were simply different peas meant to live in separate pods. You would think two adults could figure that out before they got married and had kids.” DivorceParentsMiddle GradeMiddle SchoolArgumentsMiddle Grade ReadsPreteen Author:Elizabeth Atkinson
“This kid 'was' smart. A bit of an attitude, but sharp. Enjoying Grace's company, Carter returned the smile and, for the first time, in the light, Grace got a really good look at her. She had auburn hair, close in color and in form to Grace's, actually, but it was long overdue for a decent cut. She was thin, bony, moving in the lithesome knobby-kneed way of a girl at the inelegant doorstep of puberty, but that and the ill-fitting tomboyish clothes she wore could do little to diminish the hints of the beautiful young woman she would soon become. You could see it in her when she smiled. Someone had passed on striking features to her, but there was something else that Grace saw, in the girl's big anime eyes, something mature beyond her years that seemed familiar to Grace, and immediately brought to mind the vegetable garden of her youth, where she used to sit and think and spend time alone just like this.” Grace LyndonCarter JacksonPreteen Book:The Orchard Source: The Orchard
“The thought of blood seeping uncontrollably from my body every month for the next 35 to 40 years sounded like the most unnatural thing in the world. It seemed only fair that I got a choice in all of this, or at the very least, a few more years to be a kid. I had just turned twelve less than a month ago.” Middle GradeMiddle SchoolPeriodPreteenMenstration Author:Elizabeth Atkinson
“The secret to surviving childhood so far has been knowing when to keep my mouth shut. But I am not a child anymore. I have feelings. have thoughts. have the right to express them both.” FeelingsRightsExpressionSurvivalChildTeenTweensPreteenNot A Child Book:Starfish Source: Starfish