The Tale of Despereaux is the story of an unlikely hero, a mouse, who falls in love with a princess and then must save her. It's a triumph of the human spirit, via a mouse.

You can't always judge people by the things they done. You got to judge them by what they are doing now.

I'm not exactly sure how old the girls are [in Bink & Gollie], but I can pretty much guarantee that their parents will never show up. That would mess up the fun. I do, however, very much like Kate's idea of having Tony [Fucile] draw their portraits.

I am just always, always paying attention - waiting for the words, or image, or name that will be the beginning of a story.

You are down there alone, the stars seemed to say to him. And we are up here, in our constellations, together.

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

On the return flight from my mother in Florida , I sat next to a businessman who asked me what I did for a living. I said, "I write," and it seemed totally ridiculous in the face of what had just happened. I mean, I couldn't think of anything more pointless than telling stories. He asked, "What do you write?" I said, "I write children books."