Fear is often disguised as moral outrage.

Isn't that interesting. All the book clubs. I've never belonged to one.

Some characters become your friends for life. That's how it was for me with Betsy-Tacy.

It didn't happen in the 70s. So I had a whole decade when I was writing these books and maybe there was a little bit here or there but there was no big effort to ban books.

Ideas come from everywhere - they come from what you see and hear and imagine.

With "Margaret," I remember clearly it was, you know because I did remember it clearly. I was young. I was young in terms of experience and what did I know about and I had an incredible memory from my own childhood. And so it never occurred to me to write for any other age group. And I thought I'm going to write a book and I'm going to tell the truth.

Determination and hard work are as important as talent.