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

There's a Buddhist precept that the only thing you deserve is the chance to do the work, and I've been given the chance to do the work.

When we read together, we connect. Together, we see the world. Together, we see one another.

What's my weirdest adventure? Yikes, there've been so very many. Perhaps the pig+vegetable+Taiwanese-army-guys boat ride to the island off the coast of Taiwan qualifies as the weirdest. Or at least the most seasick.

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

I think that that's part of how people have responded to The Tiger Rising. It's what I call my dark child. It's gotten sandwiched in between two overachieving, tap-dance-performing kids - Winn-Dixie and Despereaux.

So many miracles have not yet happened.