Mel Mader

“Think of the sound you make when you let go after holding your breath for a very, very long time. Think of the gladdest sound you know: the sound of dawn on the first day of spring break, the sound of a bottle of Coke opening, the sound of a crowd cheering in your ears because you're coming down to the last part of a race--and you're ahead. Think of the sound of water over stones in a cold stream, and the sound of wind through green trees on a late May afternoon in Central Park. Think of the sound of a bus coming into the station carrying someone you love.
Then put all those together.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Wednesday Wars

“And it really doesn't matter if we're under our desks with our hands over our heads or not, does it?

No, said Mrs. Baker. It doesn't really matter.

So, why are we practicing?

She thought for a minute. Because it gives comfort, she said. People like to think that if they're prepared then nothing bad can really happen. And perhaps we practice because we feel as if there's nothing else we can do because sometimes it feels as if life is governed by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Wednesday Wars

“...and she ran out of the diesel combustion and right to me and we held each other and we were not empty at all.

"Holling," she said. "I was so afraid I wouldn't find you."

"I was standing right here, Heather." I said. "I'll always be standing right here.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Wednesday Wars

“A heart that has lost knows every other heart that has lost. Late and soon, loss is all the same.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, Trouble