Ramona stepped back into her closet, slid the door shut, pressed an imaginary button, and when her imaginary elevator had made its imaginary descent, stepped out onto the real first floor and raced a real problem. Her mother and father were leaving for Parents' Night.

As a child, I disliked books in which children learned to be 'better' children.

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

I don't think children's inner feelings have changed. They still want a mother and father in the very same house; they want places to play.

If she can't spell, why is she a librarian? Librarians should know how to spell.

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

I was a great reader of fairy tales. I tried to read the entire fairy tale section of the library.