The weakness of large-capitalized blue chips dragged down major indexes, but it's still too early to say whether this round of gains has come to an end.

Investors in early trade locked in profits, taking note of the weakness in some regional markets.

The early readers are in-between books for the kids who aren't ready for novels yet but are done with my picture books. It's really rewarding to think that they can grow up reading my books at all the different levels.

When I meet children at book signings, they'll bring me photos of when I first met them many years ago when they were reading my picture books, and now they're telling me how much they enjoy my novels.

When I was younger, I was very princessy. I always wanted to be blond-haired and blue-eyed. This was before Mulan, so I was very upset about all the Cinderellas. I always tried to imagine that maybe Snow White was Chinese since she had black hair.

The market is taking a break after nonstop declines earlier this week, but the shrinking volume showed that investors are reluctant to buy aggressively.