When I meet children at book signings, they'll bring me photos of when I first met them many years ago when they were reading my picture books, and now they're telling me how much they enjoy my novels.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
To come out and meet kids who have my books in their hands is kind of amazing.
The early readers are in-between books for the kids who aren't ready for novels yet but are done with my picture books. It's really rewarding to think that they can grow up reading my books at all the different levels.
Picture books are being marginalised. I get the feeling children are being pushed away from picture books earlier and earlier and being told to look at 'proper' books, which means books without pictures.
I have a lot of teenage readers and readers in their early twenties. My writing style appeals to them. And if they look at my picture on the back of the book, they don't see someone who looks like their mother.
My grandparents used to bring me books every time they saw me.
When I see kids standing next to their mothers at book signings, clutching a copy of 'Forever,' I know what's coming. They'll say to me, 'How old do I have to be to read this?' hoping I'll give them permission. But I can't do that.
I'll always write picture books - it's just what I do. I'd even do it if I wasn't being paid.
The kids like to get pictures of me for their parents. They know how proud I am of them-they have a lot more to worry about than my stardom. They are trying to make good choices for their own lives, but this gives them a little fun. They are part of my family.
I didn't have picture books - there weren't many around when I was a child.
I've never written a children's book, but when people meet me for the first time and I say I write books, they invariably reply, 'Children's books?' Maybe it's something about my face.