a work that intends to be art must first be entertaining.

...those of us who write for children are called, not to do something to a child, but be someone for a child.

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

. . . Jess believed, that she thought he was the best. It was not the kind of best that counted either at school or at home, but it was a genuine kind of best. He kept the knowledge of it buried inside himself like a pirate treasure. He was rich, very rich, but no one could know about it for now except his fellow outlaw, Julia Edmunds.

I can't believe there will ever be a time when the book is truly obsolete. It is the perfect technology and feeds the soul.

We do have trouble dealing with death, but it's the one thing that is guaranteed we are all going to have to do, and we are going to have to face it many times before we die ourselves.

Church always seemed the same. Jess could tune it out the same way he tuned out school, with his body standing up and sitting down in unison with the rest of the congregation but his mind numb and floating, not really thinking or dreaming but at least free.