"I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn't be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful."

"The trouble with the Americans is that they expect everyone to be nice and kind and gentle and loving, and when they're not, they get terribly upset."

"I've never met a person who didn't have a good story to tell."

"I write for children because I think children are more interesting than adults."

"I think it's important to be a bit of a maverick."