Brown Books for Young Readers, Little

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said, which was code for being sorry to hear that.

Theodora had an impressive vocabulary, which can be charming if it is used at a convenient time. But if you are in a great hurry and someone uses something like “skip tracer,” which you are unlikely to understand, then an impressive vocabulary is quite irritating.

We were in a town called Stain’d-by-the-Sea, which was no longer by the sea and was hardly a town anymore

beside themselves with worry

Anyone who gives you a cinnamon roll fresh from the oven is a friend for life

I stopped listening, of course.

“I am using a complicated word in the hopes that it will make you stop talking,”

I didn’t see anything to aha! about, but I’ve never been an aha! sort of person.

the broth spread through my veins like a secret that’s fun to keep.

He wasn’t telling me the truth, but I couldn’t get sore about it. I wasn’t telling everyone my business either