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

I enjoy receiving and giving realistic fiction, for both children and adults, with strong characters, beautiful language, and humane visions.

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

Each child brings so much joy and hope into the world, and that is reason enough for being here. As you grow older, you will contribute something else to this world, and only you can discover what that is.

In a course of a lifetime, what does it matter?

Young children are naturally so philosophical. They ask: 'What is real? What is truth?' They have to learn it; they don't automatically know it. To them, it's a game. You can study this for years in college, and yet you probably asked it when you were four or five years old.

Read a lot, live your life, and listen and watch, so that your mind fills up with millions of images.