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

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.

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.

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.

I have lovely memories of Los Angeles in the 1930s. I came down to live with my mother's cousin and they invited me to come and go to junior college for a year.