In seventh grade...I found a place on the [library]shelf where my book would be if I ever wrote a book, which I doubted.

I was a very observant child. The boys in my books are based on boys in my neighborhood growing up.

I write in longhand on yellow legal pads.

The key to writing successful YA is to keep the adults out of the story as much as possible.

I read my books aloud before they were published.

I am not a pest," Ramona Quimby told her big sister Beezus.

All knowledge is valuable to a librarian.