February is just plain malicious. It knows your defenses are down.

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.

Punch after punch after punch. February is a mean bully. Nothing could be worse - except August.

As I look back on what I have written, I can see that the very persons who have taken away my time are those who have given me something to say.

I was behaving, just like I promised, but fate intervened.

Teachers have almost stopped reading aloud to their classes because of the pressure of testing and tight curricula, but it is the books we read together and talk about together that bring us closer together.

February is just plain malicious. It knows your defenses are down.