Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they’re four years old, they’re usually among the best readers by the time they’re eight.

I think sometimes we rush through countries, ticking off the attractions, but that's missing the point.

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

If we are always reading aloud something that is more difficult than children can read themselves then when they come to that book later, or books like that, they will be able to read them - which is why even a fifth grade teacher, even a tenth grade teacher, should still be reading to children aloud. There is always something that is too intractable for kids to read on their own.

I made a lot of friends at school, and they were all Africans. I could have felt very different. I didn't feel different, I didn't notice the color of their skin, I didn't notice the color of my skin and I have remembered that all my life.

I was the most Australian child ever in the world, even though my home was in Africa.

The fire of literacy is created by the emotional sparks between a child, a book, and the person reading.