When a kid graduates from being the youngest in a family to being a big brother or sister, there's an amazing transformation. They have to make a big effort, and when they accept their new position in the family, everybody breathes a sigh of relief. All of a sudden they seem bigger, and they seem smarter, and they feel good about it, too.

Opening myself to criticism was a big door to go through. You can be afraid about something your whole life, about being out in public where people know your name but not you, and it can cripple your ability to try new things.

It's really an interesting problem, trying to earn a living and serve art and serve kids. What I try to create are these visual layers so that readers feel the possibility exists that there might be something in the book they never saw before.

When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn't over for the veterans, or the family. It's just starting.

The estimated loss of up to six million dead is founded too much on both emotional, biased testimonies and on exaggerated data in the postwar reckonings of war crimes and on the squaring of accounts with the defeated.

I have an all-black Mahalo ukulele - it's like my baby. It has brought me so much peace and comfort.

Secure property in hand leads to peace in mind.