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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.

Young readers have to be entertained. No child reads fiction because they think it's going to make them a better person.

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

Children will not pretend to be enjoying books, and they will not read books because they have been told that these books are good. They are looking for delight.

We live in a dark time. Books are as dark as what is available to teenagers through the media every day.

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.

I'll never forget a meeting with one publisher where they said, 'We don't publish books for teenage boys; teenage boys don't read.'

My personal theory is that younger audiences disdain books - not because those readers are dumber than past readers, but because today's reader is smarter.

I don't for one second think about the possibility of censorship when I am writing a new book. I know I am a person who cares about kids and who cares about truth and I am guided by my own instincts, and trust them.

There are many reluctant young readers who haven't yet found books that make them laugh.