My Favorite Food Is Deep-fried Ravioli. I

The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane Began With A Friend Giving Me A Rabbit Doll - Forgive Me, Edward, For Using That Word; He Doesn't Like "doll" - For Christmas. I Said, "oh, He's Lovely, What's His Name?" And She Said, "edward." And A Few Days After I Received The Rabbit, Who Was Dressed Very Handsomely In Edwardian Kind Of Clothes, I Saw Him Stripped Of His Finery And Face Down On The Bottom Of The Ocean Floor. Why? I Don't Know. But That's Where His Story Began In My Head.

[our First Dinner With Alison Mcghee] Was At Figlio's [in Minneapolis]. I Know Exactly What I Had, Because It Was So Good: Their Three-cheese Ravioli. But I Can't Remember What I Said To Alison That Night That Made Her Laugh So Hard. But She Got Me Right Away And I Got Her Right Away.

I Was Over At Alison's [mcghee], I Think We Were Playing Scrabble. I Remember We Were Both Complaining - Yeah, We Sound Like Whiners - About How Hard Writing Is, And How We Didn't Have A Story To Work On. Alison Said, 'why Don't We Work On Writing Something Together,' And I Said, 'eh, I Don't Know If I Could Work That Way.' She Said, 'well, Just Show Up Here And We'll See,' And I Said, 'well, What Would It Be About?' She Said, 'duh, It'd Be About A Tall Girl And A Short Girl.' So I Agreed To Come And Try It For A Day.

What Would Make Me Happiest Is If Kids Read These Books [bink & Gollie] And Think: There Is So Much To Love In The World; And Words Are So Much Fun.

I Would Hesitate To Say The Characters [ In Bink & Gollie] Are Too Related To Either To Us [me And Alison Mcghee], But They Certainly Draw On Our Physical Traits And Personality Traits And Then Exaggerate Them To The Nth Degree.