My mother was a very difficult woman to please. She was the sort of woman who thought that if I were praised I would get above myself.

The fire of literacy is created by the emotional sparks between a child, a book, and the person reading. It isn’t achieved by the book alone, nor by the child alone, nor by the adult who’s reading aloud—it’s the relationship winding between all three, bringing them together in easy harmony.

You experience other cultures to give you a kind of shock that makes you look at your own culture. You appreciate it more as a result of being out of it, but you also realise there are some things lacking in your culture.

Writing a picture book is like writing 'War and Peace' in Haiku.

DO NOT attempt to bring up other people's children through your text.

When I say to a parent, "read to a child", I don't want it to sound like medicine. I want it to sound like chocolate.

Reading aloud and talking about what we're reading sharpens children's brains. It helps develop their ability to concentrate at length, to solve problems logically, and to express themselves more easily and clearly.