If you have a friend, things are better than if you didn't have a friend.

I myself was terrified during the Second World War. The war started when I was six, and I was so sure that we were going to be bombed and killed. My imagination is my biggest plus and my worst minus.

What inspired me to become an author? I think it was the snow in New York. I looked out the window and I said, 'Well, I have to get dressed every morning to go to teach, but if I write a book, I can stay home in my bathrobe, eat candy corn.'

The reasons kids get into trouble in one way or another is because - Who ever told them they were special?

Anyone who has problems, or worries, anyone who laughs and cries, anyone who feels can write. It's only talking on paper... talking about the things that matter to us.

I cannot outline. I do not know what the next thing is going to happen in the book until it comes out of my fingers.

I have no special talent, you know. I never took a writing course before I began to write.