I definitely have an affection for detective fiction, and when I first read Dashiell Hammett’s ‘The Maltese Falcon,’ that book and its author made an enormous impression on me as a reader and a writer,...

I want my readers to feel, to think, sometimes to laugh. But most of all I want them to enjoy a good read.

I don’t like the idea of a book being a test or being used for a test. The way – in my opinion – to make good readers is to let kids choose their own...

A sailor chooses the wind that takes the ship from a safe port. Ah, yes, but once you’re abroad, as you have seen, winds have a mind of their own. Be careful, Charlotte, careful of...

In my books I try to tell a good story, not give messages.

I was born in New York City, along with a twin sister. I am five minutes older than Emily. It was Emily, for reasons no one knows – she certainly doesn’t – who called me...

Do you ever smile, boy?” he demanded. “If you can’t laugh and smile, life is worthless. Do you hear me?” he yelled. “It’s NOTHING!

It makes it harder to write if I watch a lot of television, because television is not like a written story.

To become a novelist, the most crucial thing one must do is read, read and read again – gradually you begin to think like a writer. Ideas are not found – they are shaped.

I took a deep breath. ‘For you I’ve got something better than love.’What’s that?’I…trust you.’Why?’You’ll never hurt me.’Thank you.’But…’But, what?’I said, ‘That means I’ll hurt you.’Why?’ ‘Cause, like I said, you’ll never hurt me back.

Listen and watch the world around you. Don’t be satisfied with answers others give you.

When I went to high school, I wanted to be a designer of airplanes. But flunking out of the science high school brought me to a small private school that provided some of the attention...

The greater a man’s – or boy’s – ignorance of the world, the more certain he is that he sits in the center of that world.

The truth is I don’t watch TV at all. It bores me.

Writing takes a lot of patience. It usually takes me a year to write a book. One time, it took me 14 years to write a book, not that I worked on it every day.

Then the silence came back, that awful silence that seemed to just take over.In that silence I kept hearing what I had said–heard it repeating itself over and over again like a stuck record. I...

Writers don’t write writing, they write reading. When I was a kid, I read four or five books a week. And that is how I became a writer.

Magic,” her mother said, “is a kind of hope. And wishes are like dreams. When we have them, we can make things change. Without, we stay the same.

A lot of people think inspiration means magic. But really, inspiration means to put life into something.

Don’t assume that because everyone believes a thing, that it is right or wrong. Reason things out for yourself. Work to get answers on your own. Understand why you believe things.

In elementary school, I did well in science, but I was a poor writer. When I got to high school, I failed all my courses.

Every night, I was read to. Every Friday, we were taken to the library. I always received at least one book for my birthday. I have a few of them yet. Early on, I had...

My mind has become somewhat like a book. What I mean by that is that when I look at the world, I see it as a story.

Everybody has ideas. The vital question is, what do you do with them? My rock musician sons shape their ideas into music. My sister takes her ideas and fashions them into poems. My brother uses...

Writing is my profession. Photography is my hobby.

For some 25 years, I worked as a librarian, first at the New York Public Library, then at Trenton State College in New Jersey. My life has always been with, around, and for books.

I think you become a writer when you stop writing for yourself or your teachers and start thinking about readers.