“Later people would say that the signs had been there all along: that Izzy was a little lunatic, that there had always been something off about the Richardson family, that as soon as they heard the sirens that morning they knew something terrible had happened.”
“Evil is a faceless stranger,
living in a distant neighborhood.
Evil has a wholesome, hometown face,
with merry eyes and an open smile.
Evil walks among us, wearing a mask
which looks like all our faces.”
“I realized as I walked through the neighborhood how each house could contain a completely different reality. In a single block, there could be fifty separate worlds. Nobody ever really knew what was going on just next door.”
“There’s a new kid on the block
and a boy, that’s kind of though,
that new kid punches hard,
that new kid plays real rough,
with muscles everywhere,
the new kid tweaked my arm,
the new kid pulled my hair.”
“Because Amelia smiles as she skips down the street, her neighbor Mrs Higgins smiles too, and decides to send some cookies to her grandson Lionel - in Mexico.”
“Outside the wind was blowing the wrong way and the world was filled with the smell of death ...”
At face value, Cheshunt is a model neighbourhood. But almost as soon as he and his mother move there Nathanial knows there is something wrong--something hideously wrong. And it isn’t just the stench from the old abattoir, which doesn’t seem to bother most residents.
The newcomers turn the recently deceased Aunt Lillie’s loving home into a stark, barren domicile; are nasty to the other residents; and seem to have mysterious business and social dealings.
“We still didn’t know who was going to live there. Donna who’s really friendly, and can talk to anyone, talked to the builders all the time but they didn’t want to talk about the owner.”
“I don’t mind being tall because my best friend is most unusual too when you first meet him. And I like being unusual together. Besides unusual people turn out to be usual when you get to know them.”
This Australian import is narrated by 12-year-old Henni Octon. The residents of her street are a unique mix of people who have developed a strong sense of community. They are upset about the arrival of new neighbors who don’t fit in with this eclectic, warm group.
Soon, it also becomes clear that they are up to no good. After much spying and some consulting of the library shelves, Henni and her friends prove that the Phonies, as they are now called, are money launderers.
“It was Saturday, with no school, so all of the boys and girls of the neighborhood were out. Some of the girls were skipping rope, and Nan joined these, while Bert went off to join a crowd of boys in a game of football.”
“The story goes that King John intended to travel through the neighborhood. At that time in England, any road the king travelled on had to be made a public highway, but the people of Gotham did not want a public highway through their village.”