You can't let anybody else tell you what your choices are. Sometimes they won't give you the right choice.

Whenever you give someone a present or sing a holiday song, you're helping Santa Claus. To me, that's what Christmas is all about. Helping Santa Claus!

You make the decision: Whom did God punish?

When I write a novel, every word is mine. I welcome suggestions from my editor, but in the end, I make all the final decisions.

You have only one life, make the most of it

The best morals kids get from any book is just the capacity to empathize with other people, to care about the characters and their feelings. So you don't have to write a preachy book to do that. You just have to make it a fun book with characters they care about, and they will become better people as a result.

I really began to love to read while in high school, and my favorite authors were my heroes: J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut.