I write for what's left of the eight-year-old still rattling around inside my head

The Polar Express was the easiest of my picture book manuscripts to write... Once I realized the train was going to the North Pole, finding the story seemed less like a creative effort than an act of recollection. I felt, like the storys narrator, that I was remembering something, not making it up.

The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stands still, where people talk and I tell them what to say, is exciting and rewarding.

I think most people agree there is a component of skill in art making; you have to learn grammar before you learn how to write.

Some artists claim praise is irrelevant in measuring the success of art, but I think it's quite relevant. Besides, it makes me feel great.

I have lots of ideas. The problem for me has always been which one to do.

its not bad to be different. Sometimes it's the mark of being very very talented.