Like my mother said, you can't go back to holding hands

[Writing] totally changed my life. It gave me my life. Everything opened up.

I meet people on the street or at book signings and they tend to treat me as if they know me, as if we're connected. It's great.

Things change…things happen…things you can’t even imagine when you’re young and full of hope.

I didn't know anything about writers. It never occurred to me they were regular people and that I could grow up to become one, even though I loved to make up stories inside my head.

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.

I do believe that people who write for children are deeply connected to their own childhood.