The magic of childhood is the strangeness of childhood — the uniqueness that makes us see things that other people don't see.

I really don't like the city anymore. You get pushed and harassed and people grope you. It's too tumultuous. It's too crazy.

I don't write for children. I write, and somebody says, 'That's for children.'

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

From their earliest years children live on familiar terms with disrupting emotions, fear and anxiety are an intrinsic part of their everyday lives, they continually cope with frustrations as best they can. And it is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It is the best means they have for taming Wild Things.

'Hansel and Gretel' is one of the scariest stories ever written! Psychotic mother; stupid, inane father.

I remember my own childhood vividly...I knew terrible things. But I knew I mustn't let adults know I knew. It would scare them