For Children: I'm Writing A Picture Book

At Least Lester Had The Decency To Weep At His Act Of Perfidy. Reader, Do You Know What 'perfidy' Means? I Have A Feeling You Do, Based On The Scene That Unfolded Here. But You Should Look Up The Word In Your Dictionary, Just To Be Sure.

It Is Important That You Say What You Mean To Say. Time Is Too Short. You Must Speak The Words That Matter.

Everything I Write Comes From My Childhood In One Way Or Another. I Am Forever Drawing On The Sense Of Mystery And Wonder And Possibility That Pervaded That Time Of My Life.

I Thought I Was Going Nowhere. Now I Can See There Was A Pattern.

So Here I Am, Sending A Two-ounce Mouse Down Into A Dungeon With A Sewing Needle To Save A Human Princess, And I Don't Know How In The World He's Going To Do It. I Have No Idea. That Was The First Time It Occurred To Me That Writing The Story Was Roughly Equivalent To Despereaux's Descent Into The Dungeon. I Was Tremendously Aware Of That As I Was Writing. I Thought, "i Have To Be Brave Or Else I'm Not Going To Be Able To Tell It." But It's The Only Way That I Can Write. If I Know What's Going To Happen, I'm Not Interested In Telling The Story.