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The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.

The challenge of writing books for teenagers is walking the fine line between truth and what the publishers, parents, and the more conservative librarians want to hear.

My first four books were not published because nobody wanted them. They were adult books, not kids' books.

If we ever head down the American path of banning certain books or turning the editorial process into one of censorship, we will risk turning teens off books and sending them elsewhere - to their X-Boxes, for instance. To the Internet. And they won't ever come back to books.

I think it's so important for young readers to find a book or series that ignites their passion for reading, especially boys, whose interest in reading wanes as they grow older.

Books are as dark as what is available to teenagers through the media every day.

Children will often write, 'We love your books because there are no adults in them.'

Publishers have realized that, unlike the previous time period, American teenagers are both smarter and require more topical material than they had been giving them before that. For one thing, they'll read thicker books. Besides, has anybody looked at the news or read the newspapers recently?

I've never seen a worse situation than that of young writers in the United States. The publishing business in North America is so commercialized.