And Here In This Room,

I Left Home At The Correct Time But When I Was Riding Along Near The Hatchery, The Crew Was Separating Some Salmon, I Guess I Just Got Distraught, Watching Them.

I Tend Not To Think About Audience When I'm Writing. Many People Who Read "the Giver" Now Have Their Own Kids Who Are Reading It. Even From The Beginning, The Book Attracted An Audience Beyond A Child Audience.

I Write Books Because I Have Always Been Fascinated By Stories And Language, And Because I Love Thinking About What Makes People Tick. Writing A Story... 'the Giver' Or Any Other... Is Simply An Exploration Of The Nature Of Behavior: Why People Do What They Do, How It Affects Others, How We Change And Grow, And What Decisions We Make Along The Way.

Now He Saw Another Elephant Emerge From The Place Where It Had Stood Hidden In The Trees. Very Slowly It Walked To The Mutilated Body And Looked Down. With Its Sinuous Trunk It Struck The Huge Corpse; Then It Reached Up, Broke Some Leafy Branches With A Snap, And Draped Them Over The Mass Of Torn Thick Flesh. Finally It Tilted Its Massive Head, Raised Its Trunk, And Roared Into The Empty Landscape.

I Was A Sidelines Child: Never Class President, Never Team Captain, Never The One With The Most Valentines In My Box.