As a kid books changed how I looked at the world and helped me understand things. Books still deepen me and open my heart.

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.

If someone can't forgive, it's because he does not love

She abandoned the garden, and the mums and asters that had trusted her to see them through to the first frost hung their waterlogged heads.

Narrow the focus, take the ascent one step at a time, and it's amazing what odds a man can beat.

That God has managed to survive the inanities of the religions that do Him homage is truly a miraculous proof of His existence.

Live a life of conspicuous grace and courageous resolve.

Writing shouldn't come between the reader and what's being described. It should be as transparent as possible.

Men are perfectly willing to abandon a woman but they refuse to be abandoned by her.

I once knew a writer who, after saying beautiful things about the sea, passed through a Pacific hurricane, and he became a changed man.

If the past is not resolved, future relationships will suffer. Let your heart heal, before you open the door to another.

poetry is first of all a way of life and only secondarily a way of writing.