Empedolces claims that in utero, our backbone is one long solid; and that through the constriction of the womb and the punishments of birth it must be snapped again and again to form our vertebrae; that for the child to have a spine, his back must first be broken

I was someone who really loved fantasy novels and science fiction novels.

I write for teens partially to work out whatever it was that I needed to from my own teenage years.

Keep thinking. You can hear our brains rattling around inside us, like the littler Russian dolls.

Older teens tend to write to me and say, 'Thank you for not writing down to teenagers.'

I do not know what I regret. I sit with my pen, and cannot find an end to that sentence.

There is a power in names. Olakunde told us of ashe-the power which runs through all things, subtle and flexible, which find its most potent expression in human utterance; so that it is a terrible thing to call down imprecations on an enemy, or to wish for anything but good, for what is said out loud is forged into truth.