You don't realize what you're going to get, and you can't prepare yourself for it.

I was born in Philadelphia and currently live in Minneapolis. I write for both children and adults.

There ain't no way you can hold onto something that wants to go, you understand? You can only love what you got while you got it.

Once upon a time," he said out loud to the darkness. He said these words because they were the best, the most powerful words that he knew and just the saying of them comforted him.

There is nothing sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name.

When we read together, we connect. Together, we see the world. Together, we see one another.

Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.

The undoing is almost always more difficult than the doing.

You must be filled with expectancy. You must be awash in hope. You must wonder who will love you, whom you will love next.

It is important that you say what you mean to say. Time is too short. You must speak the words that matter.

The world is dark, and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story.

What I know is the product of the hand I have been dealt and how I have reacted to that hand

I have a shelf of comfort books, which I read when the world closes in on me or something untoward happens

Remember the hours after Sept. 11 when we came together as one...It was the worst day we have ever seen, but it brought out the best in all of us.

The lies we tell about our duty and our purposes, the meaningless words of science and philosophy, are walls that topple before a bewildered little ‘why’.

I think the genetics of being Irish are that you sort of prefer when it's rainy and cloudy. It's just genetic.

If you want to understand Jesus, you have to study the whole Bible. Christian duty is not defined solely by the words in red.

There is a basic truth which man can know and which can transform his life if he will become the embodiment of it.

My father warned me about men and booze but he never said anything about women and cocaine.