I mean, I love Barnes and Noble, I spend a lot of time at Barnes and Noble, but they do not have books on Flossing Space Monkeys.

I love any excuse to come to New York - when it's not February.

One of the reasons I love writing for middle graders, besides their voracious appetite for books, is their deep concern for fairness and morality.

I think all writers write from the time they're really young, and you just start asking the question, 'What if?'

I was writing at a really young age, but it took me a long time to be brave enough to become a published writer, or to try to become a published writer. It's a very public way to fail. And I was kind of scared, so I started out as a ghost writer, and I wrote for other series, like Disney 'Aladdin' and 'Sweet Valley' and books like that.

At the end of the day, I'd love to see children stop begging their parents to go to the circus. That's what would make me most happy.