A long time ago, I had an idea to make a book for preschoolers who had older siblings who were going to school.

I'm German, after all.

One of my favorite moments in that book [As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth] was when something happened that I had no idea was going to happen.

In some ways I'm very structured.

It's really daunting when you have just spent a lot of time on something to think about tossing it out. But once you've started something better that's working right, then it's pretty easy to let the first one go.

With most of my books, there are some parts that pop up right away, and other parts I have to wait for.

I don't like things to be static when I'm working.