I really love middle-grade. Middle-grade books have a little more of a magical, light-hearted feel. You can be a little bit more quirky, you can have a little more humor. It doesn't get so dark and deep.

When it comes to individual destiny, there is no power greater in the universe then the conviction of the human soul to make a choice.

Such a display of death - how could it be considered a victory?

I don't think there is a right or wrong anymore. Only horrible and not-quite-so-horrible.

Do books about the Holocaust make us think, "Oh well, there was nothing we could've done to prevent that or prevent it from happening again"? Of course not. It makes us angry and determined to stop such atrocities.

It's kind of hard to ask a dead guy what he did wrong.

She and Thomas had helped construct the Maze; at the same time she’d exerted a lot of effort to build a wall holding back her emotions.