All of that loneliness and longing in my heart got transferred into the book Because of Winn-Dixie, I guess.

Minnesota has been so good to me and so pleased that I love Minnesota.

Miracles and magic pervade the things that I've written, but yet there are no miracles and there is no magic.

I need to write, and I can't write when I'm on the road.

Most of my books begin with an image or a voice - one small thing - and I don't know what it is going to become.

The themes in my books, like in life, are about grace and redemption and you never know when they're going to show up and what form they're going to be in. Stories emerge from keeping your heart open to the people that cross in front of you or the dogs or the mice, and their ability to open you up and enrich your life.

All of God's creatures have names, every last one of them. Of that I am sure: of that I have no doubt at all.