[He] had the soul of a poet, and because of this, he liked very much to consider questions that had no answers.

Everything when I was a kid was illustrated.

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.

The image I had was very clear, and so in that way The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane began like other books.

I work full-time in a used bookstore. I get up. I drink a cup of coffee. I think, The last thing I want to do is write. Then I go to the computer and write.

I was born in Philadelphia and currently live in Minneapolis. I write for both children and adults.

In my stories for children, I sometimes show a hard, harsh, dangerous world. I'm going to show you the way it is, but I'm going to also tell you that there's every reason to hope.