FAQ for Report Writers
- Where were you born?
- Santa Monica, California
- How many kids were in your family?
- Four. I was the youngest in my family and the youngest of all my cousins. My nicknames were: Snot-Nose, Short Stuff, and Shrimp.
- Do you have kids?
- Yes. I have two terrific kids: a son, Ian, age 22, and a daughter, Kai, age 17.
- Do you have any pets?
- I have one German Shepherd dog named Sasha. She has a secret life as a Russian princess. When we are gone, she conducts royal business from on top of the sofa, surrounded by paskha and pirozhki.
- Where do you live?
- I live in the San Francisco Bay area.
- Where do you get your ideas?
- I get my ideas from lots of different places. One idea isn’t usually enough to build a book around, but that first “starter” idea gets things moving. The starter idea for Notes From a Liar and Her Dog woke me up in the middle of the night. I don’t honestly know where it came from. The starter idea for Al Capone Does My Shirts came from a newspaper article. The idea for Chasing Secrets came from a nonfiction book about rats which mentioned a plague outbreak in San Francisco in 1900. The idea for One-Third Nerd came to me when I was having trouble with the revision of another novel. As one of my best friends said: Not many people procrastinate by writing a whole other book. Often ideas come out of an obsessive interest in a subject. Right now, I have four novels under contract, so I´m working on all cylinders. But in the back of my mind where there are a lot of loose mechanical parts, a fifth novel idea is forming.
- What are some of your favorite books?
Holes by Louis Sachar
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary Schmidt
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Golden Compass by Roald Dahl
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Saffy’s Angel by Hilary McKay
- What are some of your favorite books?
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going
A Step From Heaven by An Na
how i live now by Meg Rosoff
House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
True Confessions of a Heartless Girl by Martha Brooke
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
- Where were you born?
Santa Monica, California
Q: How many kids were in your family?
Four. I was the youngest in my family and the youngest of all my cousins. My nicknames were: Snot-Nose, Short Stuff, and Shrimp.
Q: Do you have kids?
Yes. I have two terrific kids: a son, Ian, age 22, and a daughter, Kai, age 17.
Q: Do you have any pets?
I have one German Shepherd dog named Sasha. She has a secret life as a Russian princess. When we are gone, she conducts royal business from on top of the sofa, surrounded by paskha and pirozhki.
Q: Where do you live?
I live in the San Francisco Bay area.
Q: Where do you get your ideas?
I get my ideas from lots of different places. One idea isn’t usually enough to build a book around, but that first “starter” idea gets things moving. The starter idea for Notes From a Liar and Her Dog woke me up in the middle of the night. I don’t honestly know where it came from. The starter idea for Al Capone Does My Shirts came from a newspaper article. The idea for Chasing Secrets came from a nonfiction book about rats which mentioned a plague outbreak in San Francisco in 1900. The idea for One-Third Nerd came to me when I was having trouble with the revision of another novel. As one of my best friends said: Not many people procrastinate by writing a whole other book. Often ideas come out of an obsessive interest in a subject. Right now, I have four novels under contract, so I´m working on all cylinders. But in the back of my mind where there are a lot of loose mechanical parts, a fifth novel idea is forming.
Q: What are some of your favorite books?
Holes by Louis Sachar
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary Schmidt
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Golden Compass by Roald Dahl
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Saffy’s Angel by Hilary McKay
Q: What are some of your favorite young adultbooks?
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going
A Step From Heaven by An Na
how i live now by Meg Rosoff
House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
True Confessions of a Heartless Girl by Martha Brooke
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison