Growing up in the 1950s, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, boys were supposed to be athletic.

The Dick, Jane, and Spot primers have gone to that bookshelf in the sky. I have, in some ways, a tender feeling toward them, so I think it’s for the best.

My stories are often a little mysterious.

I’m always a bit disappointed when I’ve finished working on a book.

‘The Polar Express’ began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myself, ‘What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?’

I believe that there will be many things that happen to me in my life that I will not be able to explain. Some of those might be magic. I’m not sure.

The idea of the extraordinary happening in the context of the ordinary is what’s fascinating to me.

Peter Rabbit’s not a rabbit. Peter Rabbit is a proxy for the child who reads the book, and they imagine themselves in the rabbit’s position.

I’ve always thought of the book as a visual art form, and it should represent a single artistic idea, which it does if you write your own material.

I love the idea of a tiny window between the back stoop and the pantry, where the milkman would pass through the cheese. But of course, there is no milkman anymore. So somebody coming by...

I like the gizmos that transport people.