Where I grew up, it was all people who were black and Latino, people who look like me. Now I live in a neighborhood where very, very few people look like me.

That's what makes best friends. It's not whether or not you live on the same block or go to the same school, but how you feel about each other in your hearts.

I think boys don't always like to read books with female protagonist - I don't even know what to say about this.

You can't always be pushing people away. Someday nobody'll come back.

Maybe this was our last summer as best friends. I feel like something's going to change now and I'm not going to be able to change it back. —Margaret

I couldnt be a writer without hope. I think I became a writer because Im pretty optimistic.

There's me in every character I put on the pages.