When I sit and talk with a person, I'm not always paying attention. I'm looking at the person and saying, 'What is it about his or her life that appeals to me?

I want to see children curled up with books, finding an awareness of themselves as they discover other people's thoughts. I want them to make the connection that books are people's stories, that writing is talking on paper, and I want them to write their own stories. I'd like my books to provide that connection for them.

I loved teaching. It was my world. I only left because I was overwhelmed with three careers - teaching, writing, and my family.

To me, family is everything. I want children to realize how important their families are and what a support system a family is.

I cannot outline. I do not know what the next thing is going to happen in the book until it comes out of my fingers.

Many times in my life I've been upset about something and said to myself, Will this matter in two years? Not even in two months.

What inspired me to become an author? I think it was the snow in New York. I looked out the window and I said, 'Well, I have to get dressed every morning to go to teach, but if I write a book, I can stay home in my bathrobe, eat candy corn.'

Do you all have a living room floor or a bedroom floor? Then you can write a book.

All of my books are based in some way on my personal experiences, or the experiences of members of my family, or the stories kids would tell me in school.

Revision is the heart of writing. Every page I do is done over seven or eight times.

I myself was terrified during the Second World War. The war started when I was six, and I was so sure that we were going to be bombed and killed. My imagination is my biggest plus and my worst minus.

If you have a friend, things are better than if you didn't have a friend.

Drawing is what you see of the world, truly see...And sometimes what you see is so deep in your head you're not even sure of what you're seeing. But when it's down there on paper, and you look at it, really look, you'll see the way things are...that's the world, isn't it? You have to keep looking to find the truth.

The reasons kids get into trouble in one way or another is because - Who ever told them they were special?