Gail Carson Levine

“Get to know your kids' minds and how they think.”

“I had to write something and couldn't think of a plot, so I decided to write a Cinderella story because it already had a plot! Then, when I thought about Cinderella's character, I realized that she was too much of a goody-two-shoes for me, and I would hate her before I finished ten pages.”

“I have a very vivid memory of the way my parents spoke, and the 50's that I grew up in are closer to the 20's, I think, than today in many, many ways.”

“My interest in the theater led me to my first writing experience as an adult. My husband David wrote the music and lyrics and I wrote the book for a children's musical, 'Spacenapped' that was produced by a neighborhood theater in Brooklyn.”

“Daughter, we didn't need your note - or a prince's visit - to tell us you'd done nothing wrong. We know the daughter we raised. We fear for your future, but never for your character. You take our love and our trust wherever you wander. Father.”

“Drualt took Freya's warm hand,Her strong hand,Her sword hand,And pressed it to his lips,Pressed it to his heart.Come with me,' he said.Come with me to battle,My love. Tarry at my side.Stay with meWhen battle is done.Tarry at my side.Laugh with me,And walk with meThe long, long way.Tarry with me,My love, at my side.”

“But the lost one is with you.Her tenderness strengthens you,Her gaiety uplifts you,Her honor purifies you.More than memory,The lost one is found.”

“I didn't want to be a writer. First I wanted to act, and then I wanted to be a painter like my big sister.”

“If a big person invests time in reading, kids learn reading is important, the child is important, words are important, stories are important.”

“To me, merely and pretty were words that had nothing to do with each other. Pretty went with miraculously, and merely belonged in another paragraph entirely.”