The world was hers for the reading. - Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

"In the future, when something comes up, you tell exactly how it happened but write down for yourself the way you think it should have happened. Tell the truth and write the story. Then you won't get mixed up. It was the best advice Francie every got."

"From that time on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again, never miss the lack of intimate friends. Books became her friends and there was one for every mood."

"The library was a little old shabby place. Francie thought it was beautiful. The feeling she had about it was as good as the feeling she had about church. She pushed open the door and went in. She liked the combined smell of worn leather bindings, library past and freshly inked stamping pads better than she liked the smell of burning incense at high mass."

"Francie, huddled with other children of her kind, learned more that first day than she realized. She learned of the class system of a great Democracy."

"She had become accustomed to being lonely. She was used to walking alone and to being considered 'different.' She did not suffer too much."