I really believe strongly that kids should be spared the runoff of their parents' lives and problems.

I'm never a fan of the sociopathic kind of reviewing, people who are sort of self-immolating and have social problems or whatever, and let it out in literary-criticism form. I just feel like book reviewing should be respectful and calm and not filled with bile.

Maybe he was more than the sum of his broken parts.

But there was something psychological happening there that was just a little bit different. And the other thing was, there was no stigma. Kids weren't going into the 'Center-for-Kids-That-Need-More-Help' or something like that. It was 826 Valencia.

He wanted to fly in lightweight contraptions with her.

I went to Saudi Arabia in 2010, and spent most of my time in Jeddah and the King Abdullah Economic City.

I can remember exactly where I sat when my teacher first read Roald Dahl's 'James and the Giant Peach'.