#ordinaryresurrections

“The people who come to visit at St, Ann’s...believe that every child, of whatever race of economic situation, is of equal value...but, in the eyes of those who exercise real power in New York, it seemingly is not.”

“some of the children are virtually bursting with poetic creativity when they are six years old.”

Elio “can be quick to show that he does not like...that particular singsong voice that grown-ups sometimes think they ought to use when speaking to young children.”

Erika’s “intellect, morality, and loyalty to other children still burn brightly” even though she’s aged and learned her realities.

“There is a great deal of this automatic and insightful kindness in the hearts of many of these children...acquainted with unusual degrees of loss and sorrow.”

Piedad “cries at times for reasons no one knows...Teachers who have spent their lives with children of this age know what to do...They’ll sometimes get down on the floor and...hold her like that for a while. I guess I didn’t...think that Piedad would have accepted it from me.”

Pineapple “can be assertive also when she talks to grown-ups and seems unaware that she is often going just a bit too far.”

Pineapple “passes out the pencils to the children at her table, saving the one she’s [accidentally] sharpened to a stump for last, then [gives] it to a boy she doesn’t like because he teases her for being plump.”