All About Writing Runt

I have been writing stories for young people for thirty years and have more than fifty books out in the world. When you do anything for so long—probably especially writing stories—there comes a time when you must begin searching for new sources of inspiration. And Runt came out of such a search.

A number of years ago, a publisher asked me to write a series of books for young readers that was to be published simultaneously in England and the United States. I once spent a year living in England, and I know just enough about that country to know that childhood—and especially school—is different there than it is here in some important ways. I didn't know how I could write stories, especially stories that would probably involve school, and make them work both places.