Nikki Williams

“But then Mr. Knox caught him. He noticed that Clem wasn’t in the fields when he was supposed to be, and he found him up at the house, his ear close to the window. He saw all the words written in the dirt.” “What did he do?” Thomas glanced at Henry. He hadn’t meant to tell this part. He tried never to think about it. “He whipped him.” Thomas closed his eyes, trying to stop the flood of memories — the thwack of Mr. Knox’s whip, Clem’s shouts of pain, the sight of Clem’s blood-soaked shirt. “Clem couldn’t walk for two weeks.” “For learning to read?” Henry said, his eyes blazing with anger and shock. “Yes, sir,” Thomas said.”
― Lauren Tarshis, I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863

“And like that little snake, Thomas and Birdie disappeared into the shadowy forest.”
― Lauren Tarshis, I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863

“Luckily the next day was Saturday, so Roy didn’t have to get up early to catch the school bus. As he sat down for breakfast, the phone rang. It was Garrett. He’d never before called Roy, but now he wanted him to go skateboarding at the outlet mall.”
― Carl Hiaasen, Hoot

“But then Clem was taken, and those pictures went dark. Just thinking about Clem gave Thomas a searing pain, even worse than the lash of Mr. Knox’s whip.”
― Lauren Tarshis, I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863