Today I discovered two kinds of people who go to high school: those who wear new clothes to show off on the first day, and those who wear their oldest clothes to show they think school is unimportant.

Otis was inspired by a boy who sat across the aisle from me in sixth grade. He was a lively person. My best friend appears in assorted books in various disguises.

I feel sometimes that in children's books there are more and more grim problems, but I don't know that I want to burden third- and fourth-graders with them.

I think the best teachers had a real interest in the subject they were teaching and a love for children.

What interests me is what children go through while growing up.

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

Nothing in the whole world felt as good as being able to make something from a sudden idea.