I always had stories inside my head and one day I just decided to start writing them down. I didn't actually decide.

When you ask, did writing change my life? It totally changed my life. It gave me my life.

I don't really know exactly how it happened but I don't like the idea that I would ever have said I'm going to write about racism or puberty or bullying.

The parent reads the book. The kid reads the book and then they can talk about the characters instead of talking about themselves. You know there's a connection even if you don't talk about it when you read the same books.

I think people who write for kids, we have that ability to go back into our own lives.

I am a big defender of 'Harry Potter,' and I think any book that gets kids to read are books that we should cherish, we should be thankful for them.

Another thing all writers have in common is we're all observers. We pay attention to detail.