Our rule was that we [with Kate DiCamillo] would write everything together, literally every word.

Our rule was that we [with Kate DiCamillo] would write everything together, literally every word.

We met in the summer or fall of 2001. I had never met Kate [DiCamillo], though I'd heard her name, and I think she knew of me too. We were laughing within a few minutes, I mean really, furiously, laughing. So we were off to a good start.

We had so much fun together as friends that I suggested we [with Kate DiCamillo] write a book together.

The world should have stopped, but it didn't. The world kept on going. How can the world just keep on going? An earthquake in India kills a thousand people, and the world keeps on going. A famine in China kills a million people, and the world keeps on going. The twin towers of the World Trade Center buckle and fall, and the world, the world keeps on going.

It's very cool to be short, very cool. When I was in eighth grade, and the height I am now, I would just look at the cute little short girls and think, 'If only, if only.

We pulled them [ Bink & Gollie] out of our feeble little brains.