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

All of my books are based in some way on my personal experiences, or the experiences of members of my family, or the stories kids would tell me in school.

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

To me, family is everything. I want children to realize how important their families are and what a support system a family is.

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

Sometimes when I visit schools, kids will interview me for the school newspaper. They ask me questions and my answers tend to go on and on, and they try to write down everything I'm saying as quickly as they can. And one day, a kid holds up her hand and said, 'Do you think you could just answer 'yes' or 'no?' Aren't kids wonderful?

Revision is the heart of writing. Every page I do is done over seven or eight times.