I didn't know at the time I was writing Because of Winn-Dixie where the story came from, but in retrospect I can see that it was a response to a terribly harsh winter here in Minnesota.

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.

Food allergy is one of the least diagnosed and most prevalent causes of symptoms, especially depression.

The great delusion of modernity, is that the laws of nature explain the universe for us. The laws of nature describe the universe, they describe the regularities. But they explain nothing.

A limited state with free economic systems is the soil where the liberty tree blossoms.

Our primary function is to create an emotion and our secondary function is to sustain that emotions.

My ambition was always to show aspects of daily life as if we were seeing them for the first time.

I look into my own black heart.

Work first and then rest. Work first, and then gaze, but do not use golden ploughshares, nor bind ledgers in enamel.

Ethics seems a morass which we have to cross, but get hopelessly bogged in when we make the attempt.

These 3 topics will always generate 100+ comments of irrational/ridiculous people: Taxes, tipping, and spending on weddings.

Is there any evidence to the contrary? I don't need certainty in order to act on a well-founded suspicion.