Robin Stevenson > Quotes

“I stare past her at the inspirational kitten posters. There's one of a soaking-wet kitten climbing out of a toilet with the caption "it could be worse!"

"Just tell me whatever it is you're thinking," Mrs. Paulsen says. "Whatever is going through your mind right now."

"I hope they didn't actually drop a cat in the toilet to get that picture," I choke out.

"...Pardon?"

"Nothing. Sorry.”
― Robin Stevenson, The World Without Us

“High school will probably be better. I mean, some kids will still be jerks, but it's not so bad if you have at least one good friend. Someone who gets you.”
― Robin Stevenson, The World Without Us

“Would've been useful when I was about eight," I said. "I used to have wicked nightmares." I did, too: stupid dreams about being chased by Elmo. A psycho Elmo with eyes like that Chucky doll. I'd wake up screaming and Vicky would come running in and ask what the nightmare was about. I never told her. I was too embarrassed.”
― Robin Stevenson, The World Without Us

“Poor Ramon.”
― Robin Stevenson, The World Without Us

“Mom hadn't met Ramon; her advocacy was more arm's length - petitions, the website, letter writing, meetings with politicians. Her friend Hanna had formed a close friendship with Ramon though, visiting him as often as she could. Hanna told me that Ramon's greatest regret was that he wouldn't get to see his daughter grow up.

And Jeremy's dad, who had that opportunity, was just throwing it away.

It made me furious, and I couldn't let it go.”
― Robin Stevenson, The World Without Us

“When authors and librarians are thinking about possible backlash rather than thinking about what books teen need, we are doing the work of book banners for them.”
― Robin Stevenson, Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers' Rights

“Much of the rhetoric about book banning stresses the need to protect children, most of the books being pulled from shelves are in high school libraries- spaces that serve people who are soon to be adults. This is a deliberate blurring of the lines between a fabricated image of very young children being forced to read inappropriately mature books and the reality of teen readers seeking out the books they want, reading stories and absorbing knowledge as they work to understand a complex, imperfect world. Book banners need this deception. After all, it is hard to argue convincingly that people who have jobs and drive cars are incapable of selecting their own library book.”
― Robin Stevenson, Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers' Rights