There isn't a lot of poverty literature in the young-adult world. And I don't know why that is, but I think certainly I felt a gap.

The problem is that too many adults think their kids' lives are simple, or they try to make their lives simple, when their emotional lives are just as complicated as ours. They might have a few less tools to deal with it because they're young, but the emotions are all the same, and the subject matter is all the same.

Is revenge a circle inside of a circle inside of a circle?

I grew up in a storytelling culture, a tribal culture, but also in an American storytelling culture.

If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one's chances of survival increase with each book one reads.

At the halfway point of any drunken night, there is a moment when an Indian realizes he cannot turn back toward tradition and that he has no map to guide him toward the future.

A really good stand-up comic is a poet; it's about the use of language. It can be really poetic. And I like politically conscious comedy.