I am just always, always paying attention - waiting for the words, or image, or name that will be the beginning of a story.

I grew up in Florida, and I wanted to go home and I couldn't. I didn't have the money. The book [The Tiger Rising] was a way to go home.

I'm continually astonished with myself how different people bring out things in me that I never knew I had inside me. Each new friendship can make you a new person, because it opens up new doors inside of you.

Mercy Watson is pure fun for me as a writer, because I think of her as kind of sorbet - a palate cleanser - between larger works. It's always a relief to come back to her.

I have done quite a few signings at bookstores, libraries and conferences. I have received phone calls and letters from people who liked the book.

A friend of mine said Winn-Dixie is the way that people want the world to be and Tiger Rising is the way that it is.

This is a wonderful joke to play upon a prisoner, to promise forgiveness.