Chris Van Allsburg

“Brainstorming, for me, takes place in my bed at night between the time I turn out my lights and I finally fall asleep. It is not a very violent storm, but what's happening is I am just thinking about different ideas and maybe things I've seen that day that I think might make a good story.”

“I think most people agree there is a component of skill in art making; you have to learn grammar before you learn how to write.”

“The whole idea of being mesmerized and not in control of your own actions is fascinating and a little spooky. I remember hearing about someone who'd gone to a magic act, and a person in the audience had become hypnotized by observing too closely what magician was doing on stage, and thought it was spooky to lose your consciousness that way.”

“I write for what's left of the eight-year-old still rattling around inside my head.”

“They don't send people from large corporations to hire people to make sculptures.”

“I was about 28-29 when I wrote my first story, and that was called 'The Garden of Abdul Gasazi.'”

“At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe.”

“Authors of books are not given very much control over the films that are made from their books.”

“I don't like to travel. Yet all my books seem to involve a journey.”

“The crudest thing I've done as a teacher was to require students to write a national anthem for their country and sing it themselves.”

“I'm not surprised that my books appeal to adults.”

“There was a great deal of peer recognition to be gained in elementary school by being able to draw well. One girl could draw horses so well, she was looked upon as a kind of sorceress.”

“I have very positive memories of reading biographies of unusual Americans as a child.”

“The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stands still, where people talk and I tell them what to say, is exciting and rewarding.”

“I try to satisfy the desires that people have to have their books personalized. That's a value, or feature, of bibliophilia that may vanish. How do you get your e-book signed? The idea of people standing in line to get my signature in their book, it's hard to turn them away.”

“I think it's difficult to forget things that are unresolved.”

“I'm always a bit disappointed when I've finished working on a book.”

“I sculpted for four or five years. Mostly for my own amusement, I decided to do a picture book, and that was kind of a turning point.”

“When somebody says, 'This must be a children's book,' basically they're saying, 'You must be a child.' And so my answer is, 'Well, yes, I guess I am a child.' But I don't think of myself that way.”

“Growing up in the 1950s, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, boys were supposed to be athletic.”