Many of Judy Blume's books - which I devoured when I was growing up and where I found characters that were believable because they were a lot like me - caused considerable consternation when they were first published, but now they're widely accepted as an essential part of the children's literary canon.

I write for kids because I think the most interesting (and most humorous) stories come from people's childhoods. When I was writing 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid,' I had a blast talking on the phone to my younger brother, Patrick, remembering all of the things that happened to our family when we were growing up.

I feel, as an adult, I'm very similar to how I was as a pre-teen. Maybe it's a case of arrested development, but I feel like it's easy to slip back into those shoes, and I feel like if we were all magically transported back to our middle school years, we'd all act like we did in middle school.

I'm an author whose strength is in gag-writing.

I'm nervous about moving away from my family. That's one thing that I'm really scared of, but I feel like it'll be good for me to live on my own for a bit and really knuckle down on what I really love and study.

It's been nice to spend time with the family. It's been good to spend time with the wife and kids.

I can understand a family that's imploding. I have experience of that in my own life.

Family issues and a failing career would be enough to consume most young actresses.