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

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

All her life she had wanted to squeeze the toothpaste really squeeze it,not just one little squirt. [...] The paste coiled and swirled and mounded in the washbasin. Ramona decorated the mound with toothpaste roses as if it was a toothpaste birthday cake

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

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.

She was not a slowpoke grownup. She was a girl who could not wait. Life was so interesting she had to find out what happened next.

I wanted to be a ballerina. I changed my mind.