The fastest way to teach a child to read is to teach them to write.

When I say to a parent, "read to a child", I don't want it to sound like medicine. I want it to sound like chocolate.

The fire of literacy is created by the emotional sparks between a child, a book, and the person reading.

If you are not a writer, you will not understand the difficulties of writing. If you are not a writer, you will not know the fears and hopes of the writers you teach.

Books don't harm kids; they arm them.

You're not lonely when you're teaching, you're not quiet, you're laughing most of the time, you're having a wonderful time interacting with young people. It's the best fun in the world.

I realized with grief that purposeless activities in language arts are probably the burial grounds of language development and that coffins can be found in most classrooms, including mine.

Babies have much higher levels of stress in childcare.

As everyone knows, nothing is sweeter than tiny baby fingers and chubby baby toes.

I don't go to church much anymore, but Methodist values still wind me up and send me ticking into my daily life.

Writing a picture book is like writing 'War and Peace' in Haiku.

Am I, or the others crazy?

Syria is a terrorist state by any definition and is so classified by the State Department. I happen to think Iran is too. Iraq, Iran, Syria, they're all involved.

There is no higher calling or greater privilege known to man than being involved in helping fulfill the Great Commission.

The so called white races are really pinko-grey.

Fashions, after all, are only induced epidemics.

When you watch your mum and dad sing and they're happy and it brings them joy, it is then a natural choice to go where the joy is. Music was always that place in our family.

I feel far more connected to the whole band if I can somehow physically respond... with my body.

I'm more trying to connect; I'm more listening to people. Whatever I get is very meaningful to me.

People have a tendency to see country life through rose-colored glasses.

Remarkable work is always not on the list, because if it was, it would be commonplace, not remarkable.