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By the time I was 12, I was reading my parents' books because there weren't teenage books then.

My mother was a huge, huge reader. I think I picked up very early how precious it was to write things in books and have people like my mother glued to the page.

I've known since I was 12 that I wanted to write. My father was a teacher, and there were so many books around, it seemed natural to pick them up.

I was about 13, in some ways, when I wrote the first book. Approximately 18 when I wrote the second.

I had a very wise mother. She always kept books that were my grade level in our house.

I guess I never grew up. I was still reading kids' books in high school and college. I was always interested in writing or illustrating children's books, and I started collecting out-of-print books when I was about 10 years old.

My father died when I was quite small, so my uncle used to buy me books and read them to me.

The first book that they gave me was Jeannie, a young teenager. I went on with her maybe ten books.

When I was 13 or 14, my mother used to gift me books that I was dying to read. Those are my most memorable birthday gifts.

When I was in kindergarten, I entered a competition and read 52 books in a week.