I knew there was a story; once you find a dog with a fork through it, you know there's a story there.

I have very fond memories of swimming in Walden Pond when we lived in Boston. You'd swim past a log and see all these turtles sunning themselves. Slightly disturbing if you thought about how many more were swimming around your toes, but also rather wonderful.

I started writing books for children because I could illustrate them myself and because, in my innocence, I thought they'd be easier.

I was born too late for steam trains and a lazy eye meant I'd never be an astronaut.

I think most writers feel like they're on the outside looking in much of the time... All of us feel, to a certain extent, alienated from the stuff going on around us.

I've written 16 children's books and five unpublished novels. Some of the latter were breathtakingly bad.

And this shows that sometimes people want to be stupid and they do not want to know the truth.