Katherine Paterson

Kids often ask me if characters are real or made up - and I always tell them, 'I hope they're real but I made them up.'

Death is very mysterious to us. One moment someone is there with us, and the next moment they're not.

It is always sad to write about prejudice, but sometimes when we see it being played out in the lives of fictional characters, we can recognize it in our own lives.

Most detective story readers are an educated audience and know there are only a certain number of plots. The interest lies in what the writer does with them.

Another thing that freaks me out is time. Time is like a book. You have a beginning, a middle and an end. It's just a cycle.

Acting is a masochistic form of exhibitionism. It is not quite the occupation of an adult.