I didn't go to Latin America thinking, 'I'm gonna write a book. This is what I'm gonna do.' I went there to work for UNICEF and to learn.

I decided to go to Latin America because many of my students in Washington emigrated from this region and inspired me to learn more about their home countries.

I'm more like my father, personality-wise. But my mom and I get alone really well, obviously, because my mom and my dad get along so well.

As a teacher you can see the difference in kids who have parents who were involved. That difference, by the time these kids get to the third grade, is drastic.

I don't know about the world, but I know kids. And I feel like sometimes kids don't get involved because they think, what can I do? I'm just a kid. And really kids can do so much.

I hope that I serve by being a teacher.

Not Shakespeare. In college I took a Shakespeare class because I was an English major, and they had a Summer program called Shakespeare at Winedale, which is out in the German Hill country in Texas , where you go out and live for two months and then you perform three plays at the end of that time.