Brian Silbert

“I think if I were an ant construction worker, I’d want to be in charge. I would kind of want to be the foreman who sat around the ant construction site telling everyone what to do. “Keep up the good work” I would shout to my ant brothers as I chomped a granule of sugar. “Stop slacking off, Bernie! We have a schedule to keep. Hundreds of ants are supposed to move into this anthill by the end of the day, so let’s pick up the pace” I then promised myself I’d never kick over and anthill again. Ants worked hard, and it wasn’t fair when a giant like me knocked down their entire civilization with one sweep of my foot. That was bully stuff”
― Brian Silbert, Berticus: How I Survived School! and Bullies! and Farley Finnigan!

“Most teachers and subs keep
looking at the seating chart
to learn who the new kids are.
Mrs. Tricker looked at it once for
two seconds. She knew them all after that.”
― Michael Richardson, 5th grader, from the novel Mrs. Tricker is Not Herself

“Danielle sat on a desk and propped her feet on a chair. The 3rd graders immediately sat on the floor around her. The older kids followed, but more slowly.

Why, I wondered, were the 4th and 5th graders so standoffish and afraid, but not the 3rd graders? Becca and Charlotte were not noted for their bravery.”
― Ann M. Martin, Jessi's Wish

“I know at least three girls in my class that would shave her head to go out with him (whatever "going out" means to a 5th-grader).”
― Penn Brooks, A Diary of a Private School Kid