"'Not even the last outpost of civilization.' The tips of his ears were miserably red. 'Civilization must have decided it wasn't worth coming out here'" (Page 9).

"Becky kept telling Peter it would get easier for him, but it didn't because Peter wouldn't let it. He had to hang on to his hardness and hate or he couldn't survive. Without the hate, there were only the intolerable homesickness and the desperate longing for his mother. These hurt far too much for to bear alone" (Page 26).

"Jen was dazzled by the richness of the colors and how quickly they changed. You had only to look away for a minute and when you looked back they had altered mysteriously. It was impossible to ignore the country. It was ever-present, not as a backdrop, but as an active part in everything that went on" (Page 55).

"The cards were blank squares of...