Once 'Walk Two Moons' received the Newbery Medal, I decided to write full-time. Partly because there seemed to be an audience out there who wanted to read what I wanted to write, and partly because I could now support myself financially through writing.

As readers can probably tell from my books, I love the outdoors.

You know, maybe that's all anybody wants, is to be useful. And have somebody else notice it.

I wish that every baby everywhere could land in a family that wanted that baby as much as we want ours.

I am drawn to the ways in which we are shaped by people and by place.

I don't want to because boys don't write poetry. Girls do.

You can't keep the birds of sadness from flying over your head, but you can keep them from nesting in your hair.