Before Grandma died, she talked about family history in a way she had never done before, ... She was interested in family history, especially African American women.

I'm usually working either on a picture book and a young adult book, or a middle grade book and a young adult book. When I get bored with one, I move to the other, and then I go back.

I know now that what is tragic isn’t the moment. It is the memory.

I didn't know about them, and finding out was like pulling teeth.

I think it's important that everyday we think about the work we need to do to make this world a better place. I mean, we should wake up thinking about it and go to bed thinking about tomorrow's tasks. There's an awful lot of change needing to be made around here.

The idea of feeling isolated is scary to me - to walk through the world alone would be heartbreaking.