Mrs. Melaugh

“...I'm your friend. And friends don't let friends live small lives.”
― Faith Erin Hicks, Pumpkinheads

“Of course,” she said, “Your Majesty.” I admired the way she could make the words sound so much like “You Idiot.”
― Megan Whalen Turner, Return of the Thief

“Being a Great Reader has nothing to with reading great sophisticated books, or reading great long books, or even with reading a great many books.”
― Rebecca Stead, The Lost Library: A Kid-Friendly Mystery

“Did you touch your face at all while you were talking to the Akarak captain? Like you’re doing now?” “Um, yeah, maybe.” Ashby pushed through the fog, trying to remember. “I don’t know, it all happened so fast.” “Something like this, maybe?” Rosemary rubbed her eyes with her palm, as if she had a headache. “Possibly. Yeah. Yeah, I think I did.” Rosemary grimaced. “That explains it. See, this—” She tucked her thumb back and held her fingers straight and flat, making her hand into a rough imitation of a Harmagian dactylus. She flexed her hand over her eyes, twice. “—is a really offensive thing to Harmagians. And those Akaraks’ gestures and dialect were very Harmagian influenced.” “What’s it mean?” Rosemary cleared her throat. “It means you’d rather rub shit in your eyes than keep talking to them.” Ashby blinked. He and Sissix both burst into laughter.”
― Becky Chambers, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet