Books aren't like broccoli. You don't have to eat it because it's good for you. Books drag you in because they are fascinating.

I've always found the world is the most extraordinarily fascinating place and the more data you get, the more you can actually put pieces into this jigsaw.

Dance, my darling dance! If you dance then death can't catch you! Nothing bad can touch you! Dance!

Often the true hero and heroines of my books are the houses, the places, the communities where people find a home.

Books aren't like broccoli. You don't have to eat it because it's good for you. Books drag you in because they are fascinating.

There is still in many schools complete misapprehension that children with reading difficulties are stupid. It is so easy to teach a child that they're dumb. There needs to be a recognition that you need different ways to teach children who have got reading problems.

Very much in my books people find not surrogate families because they are real families. We've got families that we're related to by blood but we've also got families that we acquire. And those too I think are pretty much part of my books.