And so he was reading the story as if it were a spell and the words of it, spoken aloud, could make magic happen.

I was born in Philadelphia and currently live in Minneapolis. I write for both children and adults.

There ain't no way you can hold onto something that wants to go, you understand? You can only love what you got while you got it.

Once upon a time," he said out loud to the darkness. He said these words because they were the best, the most powerful words that he knew and just the saying of them comforted him.

There is nothing sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name.

When we read together, we connect. Together, we see the world. Together, we see one another.

Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.

The undoing is almost always more difficult than the doing.

You must be filled with expectancy. You must be awash in hope. You must wonder who will love you, whom you will love next.

It is important that you say what you mean to say. Time is too short. You must speak the words that matter.

The world is dark, and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story.

Professors of literature collect books the way a ship collects barnacles, without seeming effort.

When I think of all the harm [the Bible] has done, I despair of ever writing anything to equal it.

And If our God is for us, then who could ever stop us, and if our God is with us, then what can stand against?

I am dying Egypt dying.

We must return to nature and nature's god.

When I was young my heart was young then, too. And anything that it would tell me, that's the thing that I would do.

When I got my braces removed, I felt more like a real woman, any traces of my childhood were stripped, just like the cold metal that inhabited my mouth for 2 years.

I'm proud of everybody in our organization. Not every story has a happy ending. Doesn't mean it's a bad story.

Someday I would love to write about Vincent van Gogh - his paintings and letters continue to inspire me very much. But it remains hard to find the time and inner rest to write.

It's very hard to know who your readers are, but that's who I'm... if I have somebody in my head, that's probably who it is.