“People always ask, "How do you get in the mind of the teen reader?" I think all human beings have these common threads. We struggle with the same things. We desire love and attachment. We have to sort out how much we want to be attached and be independent, how we manage need and being needed and being hurt. These are things that begin when we're - how old? Then in those teen years we start to really feel them.” PeopleThinkingMindDesireHurtCommonStruggleIndependentManageBeing Hurt Author:Deb Caletti
“The romantic element is what the story Essential Maps for the Lost, sort of sits on, but all the stuff below the surface is really about family. It's about the baggage we bring, both the good and the hard stuff in that baggage. It's more about the other relationships. It's about mothers and fathers and sisters and dogs, all of the pieces. It's really more about - yes, love, in its widest usage.” MotherFatherDogMother And Father Author:Deb Caletti
“People don't realize that when Iranians marched against the shah, their goal was not to have a religious government take over. Everybody marched against the shah. There were communists and feminists and student groups. It's very much like what's going on in the U.S. now, with people following Trump. It's not that they want Trump. They want a radical change, is really what people are saying. With the shah, people were just so sick of the corruption they said just get rid of him.” PeopleGoalRealizingReligiousStudentsSickFeministCorruptionRadicalCommunistSo Sick Author:Firoozeh Dumas
“When people go to a new country, whether as refugees or immigrants, kids usually assimilate easily, but it's much harder for the grownups. Especially, oftentimes, for the mothers, because they are usually confined to the house. They're not going to school, and they're not necessarily holding down a job. It's tough. It's not easy to assimilate to a new culture when you're an adult.” PeopleCountryKidsSchoolMotherCultureHouseEasyToughRefugeeGrownups Author:Firoozeh Dumas
“Writing is such a powerful tool. I believe everyone should be writing.” WritingBelieveI BelievePowerful Author:Firoozeh Dumas
“For me, writing clarifies things. It gives meaning, and it makes me see the connections.” GivingWriting Author:Firoozeh Dumas
“I think as readers we put ourselves in the protagonist's place because we want to be like that person. That's why sometimes we don't like protagonists who aren't all that nice; we want to relate to the protagonist.” ThinkingSometimesNice Author:Elizabeth Wein
“I'd like to ask Eleanor Roosevelt what she regrets most, because I think that might reveal something that I didn't catch on to while I was writing my book and, hopefully, that would start a conversation.” ThinkingWritingBookRegretHopefullyEleanor Author:Russell Freedman
“You can come back to friendship. You can let it drop, for five years or ten years, and come back to it.” Author:Elizabeth Wein