The Children's Book World Has

I Realize, Of Course, That I Wasn't Born Knowing How To Read. I Just Can't Imagine A Time When I Didn't Know How.

It Was Up To Him To Pay Back To The World In Beauty And Caring What Leslie Had Loaned Him In Vision And Strength.

Church Always Seemed The Same. Jess Could Tune It Out The Same Way He Tuned Out School, With His Body Standing Up And Sitting Down In Unison With The Rest Of The Congregation But His Mind Numb And Floating, Not Really Thinking Or Dreaming But At Least Free.

We All Learn Here By The Honorable Path Of Horrible Mistakes.

Still, I Kept Writing. I Had No Guarantee That I Would Someday Win Awards For Writing. Heavens, The Only Person During That Time Who Seemed To Think I Could Write Something Worth Publishing Was My Loyal Husband. But I Always Remembered The Professor From Graduate School Who Urged Me To Write And Who Recommended Me For That First Writing Assignment In 1964. When I Protested To Sara Little That I Didn't Want To Add Another Mediocre Writer To The World, She Gently Reminded Me That If I Didn't Dare Mediocrity, I Would Never Write Anything At All.