Quotes by Hilary McKay

I can only drive slowly.Thats all right.And I can only do left turns.Rose ran downstairs, grabbed a road atlas, and ran triumphantly back up again. Wales is left! Look! Its left all the way!

On the board was a list of words and phrases which her mother considered not suitable for use in college T-shirt design. She had been asked about them so often that in the end she had started a blacklist of banned words to which everyone could refer. Every time someone thought of a new one, she unflinchingly wrote it down...Rose read through the list, and turned back to her letter.These are the words I learned to spell in Mummys art class today, she wrote, and sighed a little as she began the tedious job of copying from the board.

Oh, Micheal darling!Dont call me darling, Im a driving instructor!

They arrived home again to a most peculiar sight. The small garden at the front of the Banana House had been transformed. A tidal wave of cushions, beanbags, quilts, hearth rugs, and sleeping bags appeared to have swept up the lawn and broken at the wall. From Indigos window a multicolored rope of knotted bedsheets came snaking out and ended among the cushions. As Micheal and Caddy watched, a mattress emerged and fell to the ground, followed by a rain of pillows.Indigo! shouted Caddy, jumping out of the car.Indigos and Roses heads appeared in the window above.Its all right, Caddy! Indigo called cheerfully. Weve been doing it all the time youve been gone.We keep finding more stuff to land on! added Rose. Look!

Roses work of art took her all day, including two playtimes, story time, and most of lunch.At the end of school it was stolen from her by the wicked teacher who had pretended to be so interested.Beautiful- what-is-it? she asked as she pinned it high on the wall, where Rose could not reach.They take your pictures, said Indigo,... when he finally made out what all the roaring and stamping was about. They do take them.... Why do you want that picture so much? he asked Rose.It was my best ever, said Rose furiously. I hate school. I hate everyone in it. I will kill them all when Im big enough.You cant just go round killing people, Indigo told her...

Shell soon forget.Caddy, said Saffron impatiently, she is headmistress of the private school! Shes probably never forgotten anything in her whole life!

Even Dad likes it, said Caddy, and her father agreed that he did. In a way. Being a broad-minded, tolerant, artistic sort of person. Or so people told him...Oh, yes? said Saffron, rolling her eyes.Yes, said Bill, sounding a little bit peeved. So you thank your lucky stars, my girl, because in some families you would have come home to very big trouble! A nose stud! At your age! If you come down with blood poisoning, dont blame me!

Very helpful, I must say. Look at them in the eye and shout, and they understand every word... (Mr. Warbeck in Sienna, talking about local Italians.)

He had a charm about him sometimes, a warmth that was irresistible, like sunshine. He planted Saffy triumphantly on the pavement, opened the taxi door, slung in his bag, gave a huge film-star wave, called, All right, Peter? Good weekend? to the taxi driver, who knew him well and considered him a lovely man, and was free.Back to the hard life, he said to Peter, and stretched out his legs.Back to the real life, he meant. The real world where there were no children lurking under tables, no wives wiping their noses on the ironing, no guinea pigs on the lawn, nor hamsters in the bedrooms, and no paper bags full of leaking tomato sandwiches.

I love people who play guitars on roofs! said Rose, hopping along the pavement in one of her sudden happy moods. Dont you?Never knew anyone else who did it!Dont you like Tom?Of course I do. But I dont know about all the other guitar-on-roof players! They might be really awful people, with just that one good thing about them. Playing guitars on roofs... or bagpipes... Or drums... Sarah would like that, and Saffy could have the bagpipes! Caddy could have a harp.... What about Mum?One of those gourds filled with beans! said Rose at once. And Daddy could have a grand piano. On a flat roof. With a balcony and pink flowers in pots around the edge! And Ill have a very loud trumpet! What about you?Ill just listen, said Indigo.

She had to go, said Rose.It was because of her angel, said Indigo.And because of Granddad, added Caddy.And because of her nose stud.And because her name isnt on the color chart.Shes lonely, said Rose. Thats why.

Make a wish, said Indigo.Rose made a wish and then asked, Why?Thats what I always do. Wish on the moving ones.Does it matter how fast they move?I dont think so.Can you wish on airplanes, too?Oh, yes.

For Saffron, it said in shaky old writing on the damaged base, and on the other side, Saffys angel.Saffron, picking up the broken fragments one by one, said it didnt matter. She hugged Rose and Indigo and Caddy and Sarah, and said again and again that it didnt matter, it didnt matter at all.

Suddenly Saffron had a picture in her mind of Sarah waiting at the bottom of the wall, and she was angry with herself.Something changed in Saffron at that moment. She knew all about feeling left out.... That was why she wanted her angel so badly; proof that she mattered as much as anyone else.I couldnt really climb the wall, she said. And if I could, what if I got caught? What would I say?Youd think of something.No. It was a stupid idea. Lets try your way, early in the morning.Before breakfast?Yes. All right Mission Control?All right, said Sarah. All right, Superhero.

Oh, Caddy, said Saffron miserably.I know. Its awful. But Im going. We all should.It will be so sad.You have to be sad sometimes, said Caddy. Whatever Dad says. He may be right. Granddad probably had totally lost his marbles, but I am still sad and Im still going to the funeral. I shall be as unhappy as I like and I shall where black.

Hes an artist in London. We dont see him much.Tom gave him one of his quick, considering glances and asked, Doesnt he live with you?No, said Indigo, finally saying out loud what he had known now for a long, long time. Not really. Not anymore.

Saffy could tell by the feel of the darkness that Caddy was awake. She said, Caddy, how far back can you remember?Oh, said Caddy, ages. I can remember when I could only lie flat. On my back. I can remember how pleased I was when I learned to roll over.

Rose had the sort of eyes that manage perfectly well with things close by, but entirely blur out things far away. Because of this even the brightest stars had only appeared as silvery smudges in the darkness. In all her life, Rose had never properly seen a star.Tonight there was a sky full.Rose looked up, and it was like walking into a dark room and someone switching on the universe.

I always say a little prayer when I put cakes in the oven,” remarked Eve, as she stopped to kiss Rose good-bye.“What do you say?”“I say, ‘Please, God, don’t let me forget I’ve put that cake in the oven.

Darling Daddy,This is Rose.The shed needs new wires now it has blown up.Caddy is bringing home rock-bottom boyfriends to see if they will do for Mummy. Instead of you.Love, Rose.