"Butterfly in a torando: p. 180
"Coincidence arms me, but I do the work." p. 210
"Dinah is huddled by candlelight with her brother, sister, and cousin Gage, who is telling a very unusual tale. It's the story of What-the-Dickens, a newly hatched orphan creature who finds he has an attraction to teeth, a crush on a cat named McCavity, and a penchant for getting into trouble." source
"Everything -- was flattened, Equalized in the gloom of half-light. Like the subjects in a browning photograph in some antique photo album, only these times weren’t antique. They were now."
"For Pepper, he told himself, and dove to the task." p. 210
"Ghostly Galleon tossed upon cloudy seas." p. 181
"How much energy he'd spent flundering, pumping those fragile wings like a butterfly in a tornade." p. 180
"I might not hear you, but I'll try!" p. 235
"Just call out my name and you know, I might not hear you, but I'll try!" p. 235
"Kith [friends] is Kin [family]... Keep in touch." p. 235
Lintel : a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item.
"Moon throbbed like candleglow behind very thin clouds - it kept its shape as a heavenly coin, but the light melted out in skirts all around it."
"Next upon a time..." p. 269
"Our only serious natural enemy is ourselves." p. 174
"Quivered, like a drying seedpod ...
"Rasping along the dirt in a stiff wind." p. 216
"So she listened hard. And she began to evolve, because stories work their magic that way...
"They build convictionand erode conviction in equal measure." p. 115
Unusual tale
Very unusual tale
What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy by Gregory Maguire
eXperiment of living by gospel standards, and they hoped to be surer of their faith tomorrow than they’d been yesterday." [the Ormsby Family]
"...Youngest, who celebrates her second birthday, needs the wish the story promises. Comic scenes, elaborate tableaux and suspenseful sequences will entertain readers who prefer more straightforward fiction, but those readers may be frustrated by the unresolved ending. Ages 10-13" < this made me smile. I really liked it and had to look up a bunch of words :) review is from Publishers Weekly Oct 2007
"Zest for living" [vs] "farrago of gloom" p. 211 [farrago is a confused mixture : hodgepodge.
