Yeah, that's funny, huh?...Something hurts you real bad and you get used to it. Like being hurt becomes part of who you are.

I read a lot of comic books and any kind of thing I could find. One day, a teacher found me. She grabbed my comic book and tore it up. I was really upset, but then she brought in a pile of books from her own library. That was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Writers do not write what they know. They write what they can imagine.

I like people who take responsibility for their lives.

I am very much interested in getting parents to read to children, and trying to get people mentoring children. If I can do both I'll be happy.

On the streets of the city They have taken my Who-I-Am As well as my What-I-Was And now I am desperate for them both Again

It is this language of values which I hope to bring to my books. . . . I want to bring values to those who have not been valued, and I want to etch those values in terms of the ideal. Young people need ideals which identify them, and their lives, as central . . . guideposts which tell them what they can be, should be, and indeed are.