Election Day outside of big cities is different. For one thing, there are so few people in my town that each individual vote really does matter, and several local races have been decided by as many votes as you can count on one hand.

When it comes to consumer electronics, I'm a big fat sucker, because even though I know you should never, ever buy anything until the second version of it is released, I just can't resist. I live in a state of perpetual Beta.

One of the very best reasons for having children is to be reminded of the incomparable joys of a snow day.

Every single one of my books had its title changed almost as we were going to press, for all sorts of different reasons.

Writing about unknown people means I spend a lot of time arguing to the reader about why it's worth knowing about them. That's challenging, but then the piece is pure discovery.

The fact that dogs are not people means you don't have as much response to the particulars.

Libraries are what is best about us as a society: open, exciting, rich, informative, free, inclusive, engaging.