Lacey Hoffman

“People start to forget about you after you die and they can’t see you all the time anymore. It was already happening with Andy. I started to notice that at his funeral that was on the day after the wake. Everyone was talking about Andy, but they talked about him like they only remembered some parts of him, not all the parts. “Oh, Andy was just such a darling, such a pleasure to have in class.” “He was hilarious, wasn’t he? What a character!” “He was so bright, incredibly smart.” It was like they weren’t really talking about Andy or they were starting to forget about what he was like.”
― Rhiannon Navin, Only Child

“Agate finishes piling up books and starts in on her cheese slices. “Are you ready? I want to tell you about pulsars.” “Should I even try to say no, here?” “SETI is really important, Simon. It’s proof that we’re not alone.” I catch myself thinking about being alone. I don’t want to make waves in my new town, and faking a message from space seems kind of…wavy. But Agate is looking at me with galaxy-blue eyes and her tongue pushing on her teeth like words are going to burst out of her, and to be honest, saying no to that seems like the more immediate threat. Not that she’d be angry—I mean S, maybe—but she’d be sad and she’d leave, and I kind of don’t want her to leave. “Okay, fine,” I say. “Tell me about pulsars.”
― Erin Bow, Simon Sort of Says:

“People often ask me if the book was emotional or difficult to write. Emotional, yes. I typed through a lot of tears. But it was the opposite of difficult. Some of that transcendent grace from the days after the tragedy returned. Maybe that was because I was creating characters somewhat based on friends I loved and so I was deeply ensconced in their world again. It was as if they were right there in the room with me as I wrote. And in a way they were. In a way they have never left me. And that’s just it, isn’t it? That’s how we manage to survive loss. Because love, it never dies, it never goes away, it never fades, so long as you hang on to it. Love can make you immortal.”
― Gayle Forman, If I Stay

“Hey, Simon,” says Agate. “So, you are having a panic attack.” The siren is incredibly loud. It’s so loud that it could drown me. I can’t breathe and the air feels green and weird. “You are having a panic attack but also there is an actual tornado,” says Agate. “Can you breathe? Keep breathing. I asked my sensory processing specialist to tell me about panic attacks so I could help you and I learned that telling you to breathe is the best thing. Please keep breathing. I would like that very much.”
― Erin Bow, Simon Sort of Says: