Call me territorial or narcissistic, but I avoid novels about people who share my vocation.

My own life is wonderful, but if I had to live the life of someone else, I'd gladly choose that of Julia Child or Dr. Seuss: two outrageously original people, each of whom fashioned an idiosyncratic wisdom, passion for life, and sense of humor into an art form that anyone and everyone could savor.

My readers often tell me that what they admire about my books is my ability to write from so many points of view. My challenge to myself is whether I'll ever be able to write a novel just from one point of view. It seems impossible.

I was ridiculed in public school for being smart. A teacher's pet.

Education is important because it prepares you for life.

I saw 'The 39 Clues' as a potential vehicle for doing some education in a fun way - to take some of these amazing stories from history, dust them off and make them alive.

Nearly one-fifth of our fellow citizens are Latino. They are families who are impacted by our education system, by our economy, by our healthcare delivery, and by every policy we make here in Washington.

Sometimes people think that I'm maybe pretentious or just weird, a fraud, or fake, because I have a formal education and speak properly and give people respect.