The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones

She hit him in the best way, like a rainstorm after five years of drought, healing the parched earth with a gentle touch; and in the worst way,like an unexpected earthquake,leaving dust and debris in her wake. She was, in equal parts, a gift and a natural disaster. Her name was Juniper Jones.

And you shouldn't regret letting people into your life who changed it for the better, even if they didn't stay.

It's important for us to know where we come from and what's been done to us, otherwise, how're we supposed to fight what's happening to us now? It's all connected.

The moon was right above their heads, seeming to offer them a smile. Juniper sighed. They closed their eyes and breathed as stardust fell from the black satin night sky and settled on their cheeks.

When you trap people for hundreds of years, make their lives a living hell, they're bound to get antsy. And furious. And so white folks think the harder they make it for us to live, the longer they'll be able to put off a revolution.

Problem is, colored kids don't get to be innocent. It's like you come out of the womb full grown, the way the world treats you.

Then he remained there, washing away the tears and the old, invisible wounds that were peeling open again under the new, until it was all down the drain along with a thick layer of dirt and grime.

Incredible," Juniper whispered, her voice wobbling slightly. "Yeah," Ethan agreed, turning just in time to see the sun hit her eyelashes and turn them gold. "Yeah, sure is.

I was just going to say, I really like the Fourth of July. It's the only time of year when" -- she yawned -- "the whole town comes together like this. It feels like I'm part of something." Ethan wished he could agree. It was hard to feel patriotic in a place where he wasn't welcome. It seemed impossible that this could be his country, too, when he so obviously did not belong. As if sensing his unease, Juniper felt around for his hand and, when she found it, squeezed it tightly and didn't let go.

Those pigs won't ever end up in jail," he said. "But that doesn't mean they don't deserve it. And the guilt of what they did will eat them alive until the day they die.

Ethan lifted a hand to his face as if he could see it, then pressed his palm to his cheek. He knew that the skin beneath his fingers was brown, but not like his mother's. Not like the girl on the bus who got arrested in Montgomery. Not, he was sure, like Cole Parker. He wondered if this shade of brown meant he got stares on the street but not assault; pushed down on the bus but not arrested. If it meant he was threatened by the Ku Klux Klan--but not killed.

Colored kids don't get to be innocent. It's like you come out of the womb full grown, the way the world treats you.