How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Lucky three times when Miss Lana took me in like I was her own, and kept me. (3.11)
Even though Mo doesn't know her biological parents, she still feels super lucky that Miss Lana and the Colonel took her in. After all, she loves them both to pieces.
Quote #2
Behind my back, Anna Celeste Simpson—my Sworn Enemy for Life—says I'm a throw-away kid with no true place to call home. So far, nobody's had the guts to say it to my face, but I hear whispers the way a knife-thrower's assistant hears knives. (3.13)
All of Anna Celeste's taunting makes Mo paranoid that people are talking behind her back about how she doesn't have a "real" family. That's probably not the case, but Mo still feels like an outsider.
Quote #3
"You are family," he said. "You're just not blood, is all. And blood don't count for much anyway. Look at Macon and me." Lavender calls his daddy by his first name, but as far as I know, he's never called him that to his face. (4.27)
When Mo starts down the path of self-pity because she doesn't have a "real" family, Lavender sets her straight. He reminds her that sometimes blood relatives don't act like real loving parents at all, and that she's lucky to have the Colonel and Miss Lana.