Most schools have a loud system of loud bells, which startle the students and teachers at regular intervals and remind them that time is passing even more slowly than it seems.

Wicked people never have time for reading. It's one of the reasons for their wickedness.

It is a lonely feeling when someone you care about becomes a stranger.

I first told the idea to an editor I had met who, after reading one of my novels for adults that was set in a high school, had an idea that I might write something for children.

I found powerful the idea that everything we have is, in effect, stolen from everybody else.

To stutter through it with you or even stop stuttering and say nothing, was so lucky and soft, better talk than mile-a-minute with anyone. After a few minutes we’d stop rattling, we’d adjust, we’d settle in, and the conversation would speed into the night.

If we wait until we're ready, we'll be waiting for the rest of our lives.