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I was very shy and I was very introverted as a kid, but whenever I set foot on stage, I kind of opened up, and I think a lot of kids need an outlet to express their creativity. And a lot of kids are scared to do that if there's not a safe environment for that.

Be a good reading role model. Show kids what you like to read, what you don't like to read, how you choose what you read. Let them see you reading.

Kids have no sense of appropriateness. They can ask me whatever they want. You do develop a sense of intimacy with readers, and they tell you things about themselves. During a school year, I'll get e-mails asking about the books. I'll give them information, but I won't do their homework for them.

I read a lot of books to my children, and they all seem really good. I think people have gotten really good at children's books.

I was really shy as a kid.

You know you don't have to be the most popular kid in the school to have people acknowledge your presence.

I was really shy when I was a child, very self-conscious about taking up space or being an attention seeker. I was the kind of kid who was really good at homework.

I am very shy with people I don't know.

I write books that seem more suitable for children, and that's OK with me. They are a better audience and tougher critics. Kids tell you what they think, not what they think they should think.