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I wanted to do something inspirational for my children.

Becoming an inspiration for kids is great. I want to inspire them to do whatever they want to.

I hope that I can be an inspiration to kids that are young and may feel different or may feel like they don't belong.

I want to encourage kids to speak up, to tell their stories. That is the only way people will know what we have to go through. Believe in yourself. Someone once told me being different isn't bad - different is just different!

I find most children quite inspiring.

I love working with kids, talking with them and listening to them. I always encourage kids to reach beyond their dreams. Don't try to be like me. Be better than me.

I try to give a voice to teens, who might be afraid to speak up about difficult issues, and a platform for parents and teachers to have frank, meaningful discussions with those young people.

I talk to my kids about my mother's energy and how she would have loved them. I talk about how kind and polite my father was. So that they have some kind of remembrance that even though my parents died from their addictions and so that they know they were genuine in how they were.

I tell kids to have dreams, have goals, and believe in them because if you have any doubt, worry or fear, it will choke the life out of your dreams and goals.

Part of my job as Children's Laureate is to visit schools and talk about my love of books and stories and encourage them all to do it as well - to read, to write, to never be afraid of their own voice. Because we all have something to say.