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.

Reading can be a road to freedom or a key to a secret garden, which, if tended, will transform all of life.

Mandarin ducks mate for life and will die of loneliness if separated from their chosen mate.

Peace is not won by those who fiercely guard their differences, but by those who with open minds and hearts seek out connections.

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.

I woke up one morning and realized that what I wanted to say to everyone - children, young people, adults - was: Read for your life.

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.