There is no right or wrong way to tell a story. You have to find your own way. You can get your idea from listening, looking, or imagining. Stories are everywhere. All you have to do is pay attention.

It seems to be that way with most things. No one to do the really disagreeable jobs except oneself.

I grew up in Florida, and I wanted to go home and I couldn't. I didn't have the money. The book [The Tiger Rising] was a way to go home.

No matter how hard you try to be present at home, you're always doing the things that you have to do.

No one cared what she wanted. No one had ever cared. And perhaps, worst of all, no one ever would care.

If the world held magic powerful enough to make the elephant appear, then there must exist, too, magic in equal measure, magic powerful enough to undo what had been done.

I never want to be a role model.