I adored Mickey Mouse when I was a child. He was the emblem of happiness and funniness.

Dreams raise the emotional level of what I'm doing at the moment.

I write books that seem more suitable for children, and that's OK with me. They are a better audience and tougher critics. Kids tell you what they think, not what they think they should think.

I never spent less than two years on the text of one of my picture books, even though each of them is approximately 380 words long. Only when the text is finished ... do I begin the pictures.

There are certain pieces of music that are always attached to certain books.

William Blake really is important, my cornerstone. Nobody ever told me before he did that childhood was such a damned serious business.

Kids books Grownup books That's just marketing. Books are books.