Let the truth take care of itself, I decided. It's done all right on its own so far.

Lists of books we reread and books we can't finish tell more about us than about the relative worth of the books themselves.

What I am finding now is that my audience is getting younger as I get older, which is a very good thing as you know - you don't want them to get older as you get older.

If you are born black, it is better to be born now than in any other time in United States history. My grandson is black. His life is a different life than if he had been born when I was born.

I much prefer working with kids whose life could be completely upended by a reading of a book over a weekend. You give them a book to read - they go home and come back a changed person. And that is so much more interesting and exciting.

But on the other hand, I don't actively seek out stories or hunt them down.

The best thing about writing programs is that it rationalized the apprenticeship of a writer.