Books Make Great Gifts Because They're Everybody's

Can I Give Them What They Think They're Going To Get From Me? That's Always The Big Question.

I Always Knew I Had This Voice, But It Wasn't Until I Was In My 20s That I Realized I Had The Power To Do Something With It.

When I Read To Children, I Try To Become The Characters. It's Great If You Can Make A Separate Voice For Each Character. Sometimes You Can Lower Your Voice With Excitement Or Get More Intimate About It: You Can Lean Forward And Engage The Children As A Narrator Or As A Reader. It's Particularly Important That You Find The Voice That You Want To Use For Each Character, Because Then Children Can Imagine That Person As You're Reading Aloud. And Of Course, The Illustrations Help Enormously.

Of Course, You Can Say It Backwards, Which Is Dociousaliexpilisticfragicalirupus, But That's Going A Bit Too Far, Don't You Think?

These Days, People Like Me Who Are In The Arts Are Perceived As Celebrity Writers. That Really Makes Me Angry Because I Expend A Great Deal Of Effort And Spend An Enormous Amount Of Time On My Books. And I've Been Writing Now For 35 Years.