I have a Bachelor of Arts in English, which means I had a lot of formal training in reading.

I didn't start working on children's books until I got a job at a book warehouse on the children's floor. When I started reading some of the books, I was so impressed.

Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty. It should be offered as a gift.

Understand, I had absolutely no interest in writing; I wanted to be a Writer.

It distresses me that parents insist that their children read or make them read. The best way for children to treasure reading is to see the adults in their lives reading for their own pleasure.

My father leaving the family shaped who I was and how I looked at the world. By the same token, my father telling me fairy tales that he had made up shaped me profoundly, too.