Chris Van Allsburg

The Polar Express' began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myself, 'What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?' ”

I've heard stories about authors filled with this kind of Lotto-winner hubris. I'm a Dutch boy from the Midwest. We don't have hubris. ”

There's definitely a value in being literate. ”

The whole idea of being mesmerized and not in control of your own actions is fascinating and a little spooky. I remember hearing about someone who'd gone to a magic act, and a person in the audience had become hypnotized by observing too closely what magician was doing on stage, and thought it was spooky to lose your consciousness that way. ”

Authors of books are not given very much control over the films that are made from their books. ”

Some artists claim praise is irrelevant in measuring the success of art, but I think it's quite relevant. Besides, it makes me feel great. ”

I don't like to travel. Yet all my books seem to involve a journey. ”

I love the idea of a tiny window between the back stoop and the pantry, where the milkman would pass through the cheese. But of course, there is no milkman anymore. So somebody coming by the house and seeing the window would say, 'Oh, that must be original, because that's where the milkman passed the cheese through to the pantry.' ”

I think most people agree there is a component of skill in art making; you have to learn grammar before you learn how to write. ”

It did occur to me that certainly African-Americans are not underserved in picture books, but those books are almost all about specifically black experiences. ”