“Perhaps what matters when all is said and done is not who puts us down but who picks us up.”
― Kate DiCamillo, Louisiana's Way Home

“I have been told by the third grade teacher that my daughter Poppet is reading at middle school level. Yet if I leave Poppet a note in block letters telling her to feed the dogs I will come home to find the dogs have been ... given a swim in the above-ground pool, dressed in tutus, provided with hair weaves. What I will not find is that the dogs have been fed. 'I thought you wanted me to free the dogs,' says Poppet whose school district is not spending quite what D.C.'s is, thanks to voter rejection of the last school bond referendum.”
― P.J. O'Rourke

“The halls were empty. Charlotte had missed the first bell and would be late, again. Her homeroom teacher would ask her for an excuse and she would say, 'Overwhelming feeling of dread.' That was going to go over nicely.”
― Anne Ursu, The Siren Song

“In seventh grade, false feelings and false faces are the rule.”
― Samantha Abeel, My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir

“Middle School," Griffin repeated. "Where did they come up with that, anyway? We're in the middle of what, exactly? too old for elementary school, but not big enough for high school. So they shove us here. Look around. There's not an interesting person in sight, just a bunch of clones who want to be like everyone else.”
― James Preller, Bystander

“This morning, as Charlotte approached the brick facade of Hartnett, she found herself overcome with a great sense of dread. It hit her with a strange and sudden force, and she had an overwhelming urge to turn back, get into bed and not go out for about three weeks. She stopped in her tracks. The feeling itself was alarming to Charlotte - was she sensing something? Something dangerous? And was it something supernatural or just middle school? Sometimes it was hard to tell the difference.”
― Anne Ursu, The Siren Song

“It is called middle school and it’s the most fiendish, torturous, and horrible place ever conceived in the darkest corner of man’s mind.”
― M.E. Castle, Popular Clone

“Mythologist Joseph Campbell once spent 5 years living in a shack in rural New York where he read 9 hours a day. I did something similar as I was in middle school but I suspect Campbell read much better books. Most of my books were acquired at the flea market in Chiefland, FL where a hoarse voiced lady sold musty paperbacks 5 for $1.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“All friendships naturally change over time. But, like crushes, braces, and pimples, friendship changes are especially common in middle school.”
― Jessica Speer, Middle School - Safety Goggles Advised: Exploring the WEIRD Stuff from Gossip to Grades, Cliques to Crushes and Popularity to Peer Pressure

“When the dust settles, kids respect the kids who dare to say no to things they don't want to do.”
― Jessica Speer, Middle School - Safety Goggles Advised: Exploring the WEIRD Stuff from Gossip to Grades, Cliques to Crushes and Popularity to Peer Pressure

“Through all the craziness, you learn how YOU want to be. You learn how to navigate changing friendships. You learn how you want to handle social media, gossip, and peer pressure. You survive heartbreak and crushes. You begin to define who you are.”
― Jessica Speer, Middle School - Safety Goggles Advised: Exploring the WEIRD Stuff from Gossip to Grades, Cliques to Crushes and Popularity to Peer Pressure

“Of course, mistakes and mess-ups are inevitable. Humans are imperfect, especially in middle school. Go easy on yourself and others. And when all else fails, connect with people and activities that make you smile.”
― Jessica Speer, Middle School - Safety Goggles Advised: Exploring the WEIRD Stuff from Gossip to Grades, Cliques to Crushes and Popularity to Peer Pressure

“If I live to be a thousand, I won't see anything sweeter than the shock on Zara's face. Her mouth hangs down, like I'm a dog who suddenly learnt to talk. Like it never occurred to her that I might bite.”
― Sheila M. Averbuch, Friend Me

“If I live to be a thousand, I won't see anything sweeter than the shock on Zara's face. Her mouth hangs down, like I'm a dog who's suddenly learned to talk. Like it never occurred to her that I might bite.”
― Sheila M. Averbuch, Friend Me

“Faut croire qu'il a pas encore fini de se vider de son eau, Émile, ses yeux menacent de redéborder. Il pue la peur. Au collège, le pire, c'est pas les cours ; c'est tout ce qu'il y a entre. La consistance même du temps y est différente. Les récrés sont des éternités. C'est pas qu'on s'y emmerde, non, non, l'ennui, ça a au moins quelque chose de moelleux, de presque confortable. Nous, on passe chaque seconde de chaque minute à lutter contre la flippe du faux pas et à faire semblant qu'on s'amuse.”
― Christelle Dabos, Ici et seulement Ici

“Four kids in T-shirts and jeans jam on a powwow stage. They’re grinning, bouncing, fully engaged with their music, each other, and the relaxed crowd. I’m splitting fry bread with a cousin as we cheer on the band, and across the tent, a young girl reading a paperback catches my eye.
In that moment, I wish for more characters like those kids in the pages of children’s books.
This anthology is a fulfillment of that wish.”
― Cynthia Leitich Smith, Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids

“Returning the phone, she said, “You’re an artist.”
The whole train seemed to shimmer. The stars shone brighter out the window.
Ray knew Grampa and his art teacher believed in him, but nobody had ever said, “You’re an artist.” Just like that. Let alone someone his own age. Maybe Mel wasn’t easy to get to know, but she sure did have a kind heart.”
― Cynthia Leitich Smith, Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids

“It was only one kiss. It wasn’t a deep kiss, a French kiss, the kind of kiss that redefines a teen life. It was pepperoni, snowflakes, spit, and rodeo dust. Crazy, like dancing and soaring and walking to a new home.
Sweeter because it didn’t taste like good-bye.”
― Cynthia Leitich Smith, Rain Is Not My Indian Name

“Only ten months until June.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“Do normal people do this...? Do they get happy and sad at different times? I could be ok one day and then not the next day. It's like everything is so bright and dark at the same time. Isn't that strange?”
― Sara Ellie MacKenzie, A World So Bright and Dark: The Journal of Lizzie Colleen MacDougal

“A middle school restroom is where pride goes to die.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“Mr. Lazar says, "Hearing loss is just that, a loss. It can be just as traumatic as losing a loved one or a pet, and it takes time to move on. So I wonder, have you all really given yourselves, and especially Rayne, enough time to grieve her loss?"
Hardcopy pg. 287”
― Kerry O'Malley Cerra, Hear Me

“Why did things always happen to her? Why was she so weird? Sometimes, in her mind, her plans would be so cool and clever, and then when she did them, everything went sideways. Like today.”
― Colleen Oakes, Sister Sabotage

“Girls in her grade sometimes seemed like they were in another orbit, a place she didn't live yet.”
― Colleen Oakes, The Second Favorite Daughter's Club

“In middle school, words aren’t just words. They can be weapons. They can be gifts. The right words can win you friends or make you enemies. They can come back to haunt you. Sometimes they can change things forever.”
― John David Anderson

“But life doesn't put a limit on how much it can suck”
― John David Anderson

“But if someone would connect me to the assisted living, they might find me uncool, and I might die of uncoolness. It happens. I’m sure.”
― Melody J. Bremen, From the Desk of Lizzie Lazowski

“It doesn't help that I'm famous for a thing I started when I was a kid. I think of what it would be like if everyone was famous for a thing they did when they were thirteen: their middle school band, their seventh grade science project, their eighth-grade play. The middle school years are the years to stumble, fall, and tuck under the rug as soon as you're done with them because you've already outgrown them by the time you're fifteen.”
― Jennette McCurdy, I'm Glad My Mom Died

“Not everyone has friendship down pat at age thirteen. Like most things, it’s a learning process.”
― Melody J. Bremen, From the Desk of Lizzie Lazowski

“Kid, I know today was tough. But you aren’t your name. You aren’t your hobbies. You aren’t where you live. And you definitely aren’t what the Pop Stars think of you.”

“So who am I then?"

Xander’s mom patted him on his knee. “Whoever you want to be.”
― Olivia Gold, Hidden