I was visiting my mother in Florida when the September 11, 2001 attacks happened. I was working on The Tale of Despereaux at that point. I had already gone into writing it with a great deal of trepidation and fear, and then this God-awful thing happens and it was really hard to even get back home to Minneapolis.

I love words; I love the way they sound. Once I've worked on everything else, the last drafts of my books come down to how they sound.

I feel like I've been blessed. I see the world through stories.

I would hesitate to say the characters [ in Bink & Gollie] are too related to either to us [me and Alison McGhee], but they certainly draw on our physical traits and personality traits and then exaggerate them to the nth degree.

The world is dark, and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story.

The only control you have over a movie is whether or not you decide to sell the rights.

Fairy tales dont tell you that dragons are real, but that they can be defeated!