middle-grade

P.S. Please don't call me Isabella. That name belongs to a really pretty girl who never wrecks her clothes and who never gets dirt under her fingernails. That's definitely not me. My name is Izzy.

Words are a weapon, and rotten kids like Tyler Jones get a free pass when it comes to using them because the marks they leave are invisible. Why don't more adults realize that?

...it's nice of Mrs. Goe to think that marching against the juvenile juror law is going to keep kids safe. But the fact is, we're NOT safe. Nobody is. That's the whole point. There's no such thing as being safe--here or anywhere. People get hurt every day. Some people get killed by weirdos like Bob White and some people just get teased to death at the lunch table for drinking orange soda or eating a tuna fish sandwich.

See how many doors open, Alastor said, when someone with influence and ideas comes along with a key? Fortune can be hoarded, or it can be shared.

Now, he'd loved money for money's sake. He loved the feel of it, not only in his hands, but also in his heart.

Did I ever tell you that we used to keep our horses where your house is?___eah,_ I mumbled.She continued her story, __y brothers used to get up early every morning and go across the street, well, there wasn__ a street there yet. It was just a dirt road, and they used to get up and clean the stables and feed the horses every morning. I would go over there once they had finished and give the horses a brush, even though none of those horses were mine. I had always wanted my own horse, but I never got one. When my father got older, he got rid of the horses and sold the land, all but this yard here."She spread her hand over the yard as she said this."I grew up and got married and had to move away. My husband and I lived in an apartment above a bread store. And it was so cramped, let me tell you. There was nowhere to move around and no yard to take care of. It was terrible. I__ not saying I wanted my husband to die. I__ never have wished that in a million years. But I was so relieved to come home after two years, and I've lived here ever since."I had stopped raking, turned and looked at her."I know why you don__ want to leave this street," she said, "You__e been in that house your whole life, just like me. And no matter where you go it__ not going to seem like home. But just like me, you__e going to come back. You have to remind yourself of that. And I did hate being away from home, but it was the most memorable time in my life, being away. It was an adventure as much as it was scary. But when I came home, I learned to get out more. I went to beauty school and got a job at the salon and took trips with friends. I like to get away from the house so that I can come back and still appreciate it. And you will too after you come back.__ nodded at Violet. What she was saying made sense.____l go,_ I said, __ell them I__l go._- The Stable House

I didn__ see Danny come in or run towards me. He was just suddenly there, pulling me up by my arm so hard that I gasped. I felt his grip on my skin long after he let go. We ran down the steps where Mom met us, coughing. She was followed by a thick black cloud of smoke. I had never felt smoke that hot in my life. I tasted ash when I breathed in.__o! Get out!_ she choked, waving us towards the front door.We ran out into the night in our pajamas.__un to Violet__!_ Mom called behind us.- The Stable House

This book would be a great addition to a classroom library, especially considering its emphases on timeless and critical topics like discrimination and prejudice. __xaminer.com, National Book Examiner

(Running out of Night) ...is a story that respects this pivotal era of American history, a story that reveals the pain, the courage, and the hope that eventually changed the world.__iddle Shelf : Cool Reads for Kids magazine

Rarely do page-turners written for middle-school kids also ignite excitement in adults. (A notable exception is the series of Harry Potter books.) Fewer still explore the secret sorrows of children's lives in the mid-1800s, whether enslaved or free. Running Out of Night, a debut novel from Californian Sharon Lovejoy, a veteran author-illustrator known nationally for her prizewinning nonfiction books on gardening and nature, gives you both.__pEd News

An Underground Railroad story with a distinctive flavor. __ooklist

A_gripping_historical novel . . ._heart-stopping, heart-racing and eventually heart-easing.__ibrary Voice

Very different from other middle grade of YA stories I've read about slaves running during the 1800s. _ Wandering Librarian

Lush, detailed, total-immersion storytelling.__irkus Review

The rural, mid-19th-century dialect, coupled with the author's interest in ethnobotany, roots the story deeply in the houses, forests, gardens, and even streambeds of antebellum Virginia. __chool Library Journal

Lardo was getting on in years, and his big belly tended to slow him down a bit.

And, to be true, an enemy's lair is an enemy's lair, no matter how comfortable or fancy it might appear.

As chief, I will represent my people in many different ways and might never know which particular action is destined to matter more than another, thus, all my actions should be considered potentially important and worthy of my best effort.