How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
My spelling is never perfect. But today I am special. I play with my fuzzies, scratch and sniff my stickers, and think about how nice it is that my brother is dead. (11.14)
There are all the hopes and dreams that make you feel warm and fuzzy inside… and then there are the other dreams—like Young Ju fantasizing that her brother is dead—that make you rethink the purpose of having hopes and dreams. Let's just put it this way: Young Ju's definitely got a bit of a dark side, which is what makes her real. Her dream reminds us that kids (especially girls) aren't all about stuffed teddy bears and candy.
Quote #8
My dream of the cloud is not new. I have had variations of the same dream since we immigrated to America. Sometimes I fall from the tree. Sometimes I wake up before I have even finished climbing to the highest branch. Most times I am leaning out, reaching. But in every dream there are always the clouds just beyond my grasp. They float close above me in thick, solid folds of billowy white sheets. In my dream I have somehow figured out that to catch a cloud means I'll fly to heaven. Fly to the place that I have never seen but only dreamed exists. Heaven, the place I was supposed to go, but instead I ended up here. (20.3)
What's up with these clouds? They seem all lovely and good—after all, they're supposed to represent the way to heaven—but these clouds also seem a little edgy. It's not just that clouds are made of some pretty unstable and insubstantial stuff; it's also that these clouds represent Young Ju's deep wish to get heaven. But we all know that the only real way to get to some kind of afterlife is to die… so is Young Ju kind of showing a death wish too?
Quote #9
What dreamers you two were! Pretending to be dolphins, then seals, then ships that could sail far across the sea. Uhmma suddenly turns away from me, looks out the window of our new home. After a moment she says quietly, He was a different man back then… You take that with you, Uhmma says, peering over my shoulder. Take it to college so you can remember how to be brave. She holds the corner of the picture for a second and then lets go. Uhmma turns her face to the window again. She gazes out and says quietly, And remember, Young Ju. You come from a family of dreamers. I hold the picture close to my heart. I am a sea bubble floating, floating in a dream. Bhop. (30.49-53)
There's no way around it: this scene is tearjerker. Young Ju's just found out that her father was the one who taught her how to go into the waves when she was a toddler; it's a sweet, early memory (and also the first chapter of the book). This is one of those scenes that makes you feel good about what Apa leaves Young Ju—a willingness to pursue dreams even in the face of some pretty scary stuff (like waves).