All of a sudden I didn't fit in anywhere. Not at school, not at home...and every time I turned around, another person I'd known forever felt like a stranger to me. Even I felt like a stranger to me.

— Wendelin Van Draanen

A painting is more than the sum of its parts,' he would tell me, and then go on to explain how the cow by itself is just a cow, and the meadow by itself is just grass and flowers, and the sun peeking through the trees is just a beam of light, but put them all together and you've got magic.

— Wendelin Van Draanen

Don't even try to talk to me when I'm watching the moon. That's my moon, baby.

— Wendelin Van Draanen

If chaos is a necessary step in the organization of one's universe, then I was well on my way.

— Wendelin Van Draanen

If you really want things to change, you have to get involved. Little strokes fell big oaks, you know.

— Wendelin Van Draanen

I had liked him for all the wrong reasons.

— Wendelin Van Draanen

I operate under the assumption that people don't notice the good in me. That's just how things always seem to play out. I get blamed, while con-artist kids like Venus, and Camille, and Gemma get believed. But the rescue lady noticed. In the background, just observing, she noticed.

— Wendelin Van Draanen

It’s amazing how two thin pieces of clothing can hold such deep memories. Laughter, pain, victory, defeat, friendship, fatigue, elation… they’re all there, but only to the person who’s worn the uniform

— Wendelin Van Draanen

It's easy to look back and see it, and it's easy to give the advice. But the sad fact is, most people don't look beneath the surface until it's too late.

— Wendelin Van Draanen

It's to have people see her instead of her condition. That's all that anybody with a disability wants. Don't sum up the person based on what you see, or what you don't understand; get to know them.

— Wendelin Van Draanen