The children's book world has given me wonderful friendships and an unbelievably rich life.

It seems to me that there are two great enemies of peace - fear and selfishness.

...One reason I became a writer was that I figured out that if you call yourself a writer, you can read all you want and people think that you are working.

Our fundamental task as human beings is to seek out connections-to exercise our imaginations.

I cannot, will not, withhold from my young readers the harsh realities of human hunger and suffering and loss, but neither will I neglect to plant that stubborn seed of hope that has enabled our race to outlast wars and famines and the destruction of death.

Hope ... is not a feeling; it is something you do.

...I just gave up trying to be a Christian... Let's face it, I ain't got the knack for holiness. Besides, I didn't have the slightest little desire to join the likes of Reverend Pelham at the dinner table for fourteen minutes, much less at the banquet table of Heaven eternally. Eternity is a mighty long time to be stuck with people who judge every word you say and think and condemn most of what you do. It struck me as pretty miserable company. And if Reverend Pelham was the kind of company God preferred to keep, well, I just hoped they'd be happy together.