Quotes
"It must have been a very long time since Esperanza and Estevan had been in a place where they looked just like everybody else, including cops; And Turtle fit right in too; this was her original home. I was the odd woman out
Taylor when they arrive in the Cherokee nation
“The Cherokees believed God was in trees. Mama told me this. When I was a kid I would climb as high as I could in a tree… ‘That’s your Indian blood,’ she would say. ‘You’re trying to see God.’”
Religion
Turtle's first word
Bean
Taylor is from this state
Kentucky
"Beans"
Turtle, first word she says
“‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘It’s awful, awful sad when people die. You don’t ever get to see them again. You understand that she’s gone now don’t you?’”
Goodbyes
Estevan and Esperanza's new names
Ismene
"It was one of the many times in Turtle’s and my life together that I was to have no notion of what to do. I remember Mattie saying how it was pointless to think you could protect a child from the world. If that had once been my intention, it should have been clear I’d never had a chance.”
Taylor after finding out what happened to Turtle's parents
"Here was a mother and her daughter, nothing less. A mother and child – in a world that could barely be bothered with mothers and children – who were going to be taken apart. Everybody believed it. Possibly Turtle believed it. I did."
Motherhood
Taylor's biggest fear
Exploding tires
Taylor's childhood nickname
Missy
“‘You know what’s funny?’ I said. ‘I just can’t picture you without an iron or a mop or something like that in your hand.’”
Taylor, Near the end of the book when talking to Mama on the phone
‘I always thought, ‘If I really get desperate I can call 1-800-THE-LORD.’ I just wanted to tell you, you have been a Fountain of Faith.”
Hope
The blind neighbor
Edna Poppy
The fake name that Estevan takes up during the adoption process
Mr. Steven Tilpec Two Two
“The rhizobia are not actually part of the plant, they are separate creatures, but they always live with legumes: a kind of underground railroad moving secretly up and down the roots.” What plant is Taylor talking about in this quote?
Wisteria vines
“I could see the relief across Estevan’s back and shoulders. He held Esperanza’s hand. She was still dying tears but her face was changed. It shone like a polished thing, something old made new.”
Catharsis
Esperanza gives Turtle a gold medallion of saint Christopher, the patron saint of what
Refugees
At the end of the adoption, Mrs. Cleary needs a second witness to the signing. What was the witness’ name?
Miss Brando