Eric Walters
I'm a big believer in bibliotherapy. Books have the power to change lives: what we think and what we do.
I always have a rough outline, but I'm shocked at how little I actually follow it. Those characters keep doing things that I never expected. I think if I crept up to my keyboard and peeked, they'd be talking about things behind my back. Okay, that's a little paranoid and delusional... but just a little.
It doesn't matter what you have if you can't protect it.
The first time my father woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me he was going to die, I think I was eight. He brought out all his papers and explained to me what to do with his body and who to call and how to take care of things. You either learn how to survive, or you fall to pieces. I'm pretty good at surviving.
I don't chase publishers. Publishers chase me.
My family claims I think I'm always right, although I'm always willing to be proven wrong. I hold my opinions dearly, but you can always try to convince me differently, and if you do, I will hold that opinion dearly. I am decidedly stubborn and have been described as not having a type-A personality, but a quadruple-A personality.
My whole background as a social worker has allowed me to understand human behavior in difficult situations. Working in Kenya, I see the most desperate situations - things I could never believe possible - and then have to try to find solutions.
I wrote my first 30 books as a teacher. I would read to my classes, and they'd give me feedback. I was trying to role model.
At his heart, Shakespeare was a YA author. So many of his plays are set with high school-aged characters. He understood the passion, the confusion and drama that marks that life stage.
Every Journey, no matter how far, starts with one stepCollection: Journey
Not an easy story but an important one. Compelling, powerful and engaging.Collection: Powerful
Amazing Donald Trump, your age and IQ are the same.Collection: Age
Every kid Grade 6 and up carries a cellphone - with that they can access the world. They are the most connected, aware generation that's ever existed.Collection: Kids
I'm a big believer in bibliotherapy.Collection: Bigs
Rejection is the natural course of things.Collection: Rejection
Kids need to know more than just about unicorns and zombies and vampires. The rhetoric that's coming out is anti-black, anti-Mexico, anti-diversity. [Adults] definitely need to put it in context. I've talked to people who are literally struggling to sleep because they're anxious. Children pick up on that. Talk to your kid. Tell them, "this is what's bothering me." Explain that what's going on is unacceptable.Collection: Children
I would love to spend time with Donald Trump. I would tell him what I think. He would take me out in 30 minutes.Collection: Thinking
I don't think Trump reads. If he does, my guess is he's reading autobiographies of ... I wonder if he's read Mein Kampf.Collection: Reading
If Donald Trump were elected, it would be the first time a little boy became president.Collection: Boys
Trump's creating laws for crimes that don't exist. In Canada, we have Prime Minister Trudeau in the gay Pride parade waving a flag.Collection: Pride
Even bullies need love.Collection: Bully
Children's books are by nature partisan.Collection: Children