What I think of sometimes, as I read the new books - do kids really need to see such a seamy side of life? I'm in the minority, such an old woman, perhaps. I love the books that have given kids joy, that give them hope at the end. Sometimes it seems to me the books right now are very depressive.

Patricia Reilly Giff

Categorized in : Thinking Book Kids

I want to see children curled up with books, finding an awareness of themselves as they discover other people's thoughts. I want them to make the connection that books are people's stories, that writing is talking on paper, and I want them to write their own stories. I'd like my books to provide that connection for them.

Patricia Reilly Giff

writing book children

Drawing is what you see of the world, truly see...And sometimes what you see is so deep in your head you're not even sure of what you're seeing. But when it's down there on paper, and you look at it, really look, you'll see the way things are...that's the world, isn't it? You have to keep looking to find the truth.

Patricia Reilly Giff

drawing looks world

Anyone who has problems, or worries, anyone who laughs and cries, anyone who feels can write. It's only talking on paper... talking about the things that matter to us.

Patricia Reilly Giff

writing talking laughing

I myself was terrified during the Second World War. The war started when I was six, and I was so sure that we were going to be bombed and killed. My imagination is my biggest plus and my worst minus.

Patricia Reilly Giff

imagination war world

Revision is the heart of writing. Every page I do is done over seven or eight times.

Patricia Reilly Giff

eight heart writing

If you have a friend, things are better than if you didn't have a friend.

Patricia Reilly Giff

ifs

Everything in my life affects my writing. There are no separate parts of my life.

Patricia Reilly Giff

writing

Many times in my life I've been upset about something and said to myself, "Will this matter in two years?" Not even in two months.

Patricia Reilly Giff

upset

I have no special talent, you know. I never took a writing course before I began to write.

Patricia Reilly Giff

talent special writing

To me, family is everything. I want children to realize how important their families are and what a support system a family is.

Patricia Reilly Giff

support-systems important children

Sometimes when I visit schools, kids will interview me for the school newspaper. They ask me questions and my answers tend to go on and on, and they try to write down everything I'm saying as quickly as they can. And one day, a kid holds up her hand and said, 'Do you think you could just answer 'yes' or 'no?' Aren't kids wonderful?

Patricia Reilly Giff

writing kids school

I'm still writing in my old age. And still loving it. It fills my days. Writing is my salvation. I just get up in the morning, and I'm in this world that I scratch out and begin again and write over - and then suddenly it's lunchtime, and I'm back.

Patricia Reilly Giff

age writing morning

All of my books are based in some way on my personal experiences, or the experiences of members of my family, or the stories kids would tell me in school.

Patricia Reilly Giff

kids book school

The reasons kids get into trouble in one way or another is because - Who ever told them they were special?

Patricia Reilly Giff

special kids way

I loved teaching. It was my world. I only left because I was overwhelmed with three careers - teaching, writing, and my family.

Patricia Reilly Giff

careers teaching writing

Outside of family, writing is essential. To me, it's like breathing.

Patricia Reilly Giff

breathing essentials writing

I cannot outline. I do not know what the next thing is going to happen in the book until it comes out of my fingers.

Patricia Reilly Giff

fingers next book

What inspired me to become an author? I think it was the snow in New York. I looked out the window and I said, 'Well, I have to get dressed every morning to go to teach, but if I write a book, I can stay home in my bathrobe, eat candy corn.'

Patricia Reilly Giff

new-york morning book

Do you all have a living room floor or a bedroom floor? Then you can write a book.

Patricia Reilly Giff

writing book rooms

When I sit and talk with a person, I'm not always paying attention. I'm looking at the person and saying, 'What is it about his or her life that appeals to me?

Patricia Reilly Giff

pay-attention appeals attention