I had a bad time in school in the first grade. Because I had been a rather lonely child on a farm, but I was free and wild and to be shut up in a classroom - there were 40 children on those days in the classroom, and it was quite a shock.

If you don't see the book you want on the shelves, write it.

One rainy Sunday when I was in the third grade, I picked up a book to look at the pictures and discovered that even though I did not want to, I was reading. I have been a reader ever since.

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

I was an only child; I didn't have a sister, or sisters.

Quite often somebody will say, What year do your books take place? and the only answer I can give is, In childhood.

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.