It could have been a trick of the light, but it looked like something was moving just inside the door frame. Something dark. Something tall. Something she did not want to be there.
The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
He’s Inside
Quotes
Front Door
Violet could not help thinking that it would be far more pleasant to live in Justice Strauss’s house instead of Count Olaf’s. What kind of a man, Violet wondered, would carve an image of an eye into his front door?
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
Drink Orders
So there’s coffee, and then there’s coffee on a private jet. When Jen, our hostess, took our drink orders, she kept trying to push me toward chocolate milk or ginger ale. She even offered a root beer float. But I knew what I wanted.
Jack and the Geniuses: at the Bottom of the World by Bill Nye & Gregory Mone
Calming Ritual
Making tea is a ritual that stops the world from falling in on you. Everything pauses while you do familiar things with taps and kettles; it allows you to catch your breath and become calm. I’ve made tea on camping stoves while Specters paced beyond my protective iron chains; I’ve brewed some while watching a Revenant claw itself free of its grave.
The Creeping Shadow by Jonathan Stroud
An Untroubled Moment
We sipped coffee. It was still awful, but there was something wonderful about sitting together and sipping even the bitterest of beverages. You cannot wait for the untroubled world to have an untroubled moment.
Shouldn’t You Be in School? by Lemony Snicket
Drinking It In
If only I could bottle tonight and take a sip of it every so often for the rest of my life.
The Wish by Gail Carson Levine
The Music Grows
In the República Dominicana music grows in our blood right from the cradle, and dancing bleeds it out in bold colors, reds and purples, swirling everywhere. We wake up to merengue and go to sleep to sweet salsa. In between we sway and sigh to the melancholy sounds of countryside bachata.
The Color of My Words by Lynn Joseph
Genius
It was all so clever. Bach was a musical genius, but he didn’t stop with beautiful music. He had all these jokes and numerical riddles running in his notes—forward, backward, and upside down sometimes. Two of her favorite things in one package: math and music! Oh, how she loved Bach!
Giant Pumpkin Suite by Melanie Heuiser Hill
In Any Language
Music is music in any language, and Father doesn’t have to say much during the lessons. When one of his students plays well, he smiles. And when a student plays a sour note, Father just puts on a look of great suffering.
Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear by Lensey Namioka
Recording in Session
I picture it. A black box with nothing inside it but me and the music. It sounds soothing, like a sleeping bag zipped all the way up.
Tune It Out by Jamie Sumner
Middle Grade Carousel 