The way we started was, Alison [McGhee] said, 'Tall girl, short girl.' We had no plans beyond that.

Did you think that rats do not have hearts? Wrong. All living things have a heart. And the heart of any living thing can be broken.

I will be brave, thought Despereaux. I will try to be brave like a knight in shining armour. I will be brave for the Princess Pea.

But let's not speak of what might have been. Let us speak instead of what is. You are whole.

Allow me to congratulate you on your very astute powers of observation.

To me the book is like having a kid. I have to let it go out in the world, and great things will happen. Maybe they won't, but it has to keep on moving.

I have not Googled myself. I have not looked at myself on Amazon. It could drive you wild.