And hope is like love...a ridiculous, wonderful, powerful thing.

I don't know what Alison [McGhee] thinks, but I very strongly doubt that we will ever see the parents of Bink or Gollie. However, I do think it would be fun to make Tony Fucile draw portraits of the parental units and have those portraits sitting on Bink's mantel or in Gollie's kitchen. Glowering. A little.

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

The world is dark, and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story.

May God strike me down with a hammer on the head before I write a book with a teach-y goal!

If you have no intention of loving or being loved, the whole journey is pointless.

If memory serves me correctly, and it doesn't always, Kate [DiCamillo] and I met in the fall of 2001 at the former Figlio's restaurant in Minneapolis. We were laughing within a minute of meeting - always a good sign.