Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps the singing bird will come.

He hunched his shoulders and tried to make himself smaller in the seat. He wanted to disappear, to fade away, not to exist.

I'm not terribly conversant with children's literature in general. I tend to read books for adults, being an adult.

Gathering Blue' was a separate book. I wanted to explore what a society might become after a catastrophic world event. Only at the end did I realize I could make it connect to 'The Giver.

Of course they needed to care. It was the meaning of everything.

People in the know say The Giver was the first young adult dystopian novel.

So many of my books, I don't want to say they have messages, but they have important things to say.