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

Mercy Watson is obsessed with toast. What was blocking me was the challenge of trying to understand what she loves, what motivates her. That was the missing piece. Toast became the physical symbol of Mercy's hopefully endearing greed and obsession. Without that element in place, it didn't make sense.

I think Tony Fucile, who did the illustrations [for Bink & Gollie], is an absolute genius. I've never met him.

Despereaux marveled at his own bravery. He admired his own defiance. And then, reader, he fainted.

We [me and Alison McGhee] probably wouldn't have said that when we were writing the stories, but it is so apparent to me in the finished product. For me, looking at Bink, it's like looking at myself on the page in a way that I've never experienced with any other book that I've written.

Writing is seeing. It is paying attention.

There ain't no way you can hold onto something that wants to go, you understand? You can only love what you got while you got it.