Thomas Builds-the-Fire’s stories climbed into your clothes like sad, gave you itches that could not be scratched. If you repeated eve a sentence from one of those stories, your throat was never the same again....

I look more Indian when I’m serious.

Teenagers read millions of books every year. They read for entertainment and for education. They read because of school assignments and pop culture fads. And there are millions of teens who read because they are...

The ordinary can be like medicine.

I’m a freak with power.

You know, people speak in poetry all the time. They just don’t realize it.

My career means, if you’re a non-Indian writing about Indians, at least there’s one Indian in your rearview mirror.

Last night I missed two free throws which would have won the game against the best team in the state. The farm town high school I play for is nicknamed the “Indians,” and I’m probably...

Do you understand how amazing it is to hear that from an adult? Do you know how amazing it is to hear that from anybody? It’s one of the simplest sentences in the world, just...

Like a good Indian, he knew when to talk and when to remain silent. Like a good Indian, he knew there was never a good time to talk.

I thought I’d been condescended to as an Indian – that was nothing compared to the condescension for writing young adult literature.

They’re all gone, my tribe is gone. Those blankets they gave us, infected with smallpox, have killed us. I’m the last, the very last, and I’m sick, too. So very sick. Hot. My fever burning...

If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one’s chances of survival increase with each book one reads.

In the middle of the night, when you’re ambiguously ethnic, like me, when you’re brown, beige, mauve, siena, one of those lighter browns in the Crayola box. You have to be careful of the cops...

Well, I think the worst part about tribalism is its tendency to fundamentalize, and if I can fight fundamentalism in any of its forms I’m happy.

You wouldn’t think there is anything life threatening about speech impediments, but let me tell you, there is nothing more dangerous than being a kid with a stutter and a lisp.

It’s not oil that runs the world, it’s shame.

He was going to punish me now. He couldn’t beat me up with his old man fists, but he could hurt me with his old man words.

The dream he needed most was the dream that frightened him more.

Spiritual matters should be private.

Like officer Dave.He’s never said much about his life, but I can tell he’s scarred. And he knows I’m scarred too. The wounded always recognize the wounded. We can smell each other.

What if someone picks on me?” I askedThen I’ll pick on them”.What if someone picks my nose?” I asked.The I’ll pick your nose, too” Rowdy said.

I’m quite aware of my differences. I wouldn’t classify them as weird

My father was always depressed. When he was home and sober, he was mostly in his room.

Coach said. “the quality of a man’s life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor”.

He looked into the crowd for approval, saw his mother and father. He waved and they waved back. Smiles and Indian teeth. They were both drunk. Everything familiar and welcome. Everything beautiful.

Don’t live up to your stereotypes.

I think a lot of Indians want Indian artists to be cultural cheerleaders rather than cultural investigators.

I wanted to ask my father about his regrets. I wanted to ask him what was the worst thing he’d ever done. His greatest sin. I wanted to ask him if there was any reason...

When it comes to death, we know that laughter and tears are pretty much the same thing.And so, laughing and crying, we said good-bye to my grandmother. And when we said goodbye to one grandmother,...

Choice: that was the thing. Other people claimed that you can’t choose who you love–it just happens!–but Grace and Roman knew that was a bunch of happy horseshit. Of course you chose who you loved....

I don’t know what any individual should do about crossing her own borders. I only know that I live a happier, more adventurous life, by crossing borders.

The people who loved me when I was seven years old love my books, and the people who didn’t like me when I was seven years old don’t like my books.

Gordie, the white boy genius, gave me this book by a Russian dude named Tolstoy, who wrote, ‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.’ Well, I hate to...

(I think Rowdy might be the most important person in my life. maybe more important than my family.) Can your best friend be more importamt than your family? (24)

Brother, It would hurt, And make me the motherOf every living thing.But, Fire Boy, you ain’t lifting my grass skirtUntil you burn me a ring.

Nostalgia is always doomed and dooming.

Coyote, who is the creator of all of us, was sitting on his cloud the day after he created Indians. Now, he liked the Indians, liked what they were doing. This is good, he kept...

Ialways think it’s funny when Indians celebrate Thanksgiving. I mean, sure, the Indians and Pilgrims were best friends during the first Thanksgiving, but a few years later, the Pilgrims were shooting Indians.So I’m never quite...

I’ve come to the point in my life where I encourage young Native Americans to become much more selfish about their personal needs and wants.

Writing is a lonely business.

I believe in any kid’s ability to read any book and form their own judgments. It’s the job of a parent to guide his/her child through the reading of every book imaginable. Censorship of any...

Did she say anything before she died?” he asked.”Yes,” the surgeon said. “She said, ‘Forgive him'””Forgive him?” my father asked.”I think she was referring to the drunk driver who killed her.”Wow.My grandmother’s last act on...

It was so quiet, a reservation kind of quiet, where you can hear somebody drinking whiskey on the rocks three miles away.

My only purpose is to teach children to rebel against authority figures.

There isn’t a lot of poverty literature in the young-adult world. And I don’t know why that is, but I think certainly I felt a gap.

…And nostalgia is a cancer. Nostalgia will fill your heart up with tumors. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s what you are. You’re just an old fart dying of terminal nostalgia.

(So I heard the boom of my fathr’s rifle when he shot my best friend.) A bullet only costs about two cents, and anybody can afford that.(14)

Walk the midway and hear the carnival barker. Come see the freak named after his deceased father. Come see the prince who wants to abdicate his throne. Come see the son whose name is carved...

In high school I dated a white woman. She would come to visit me on the rez. And her dad, who was very racist, didn’t like that at all. And he told her one time,...