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

With twins, reading aloud to them was the only chance I could get to sit down. I read them picture books until they were reading on their own.

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

When I was in the first grade I was afraid of the teacher and had a miserable time in the reading circle, a difficulty that was overcome by the loving patience of my second grade teacher. Even though I could read, I refused to do so.

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 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.

Problem solving, and I don't mean algebra, seems to be my life's work. Maybe it's everyone's life's work.