“Books and characters in books, pictures and elements in pictures—they all have families and ancestors, just like people.”

“History was like an old house at night. With all the lamps lit. And ancestor whispering inside. To understand history, we have to go inside and listen to what they're saying. And look at the books and the pictures on the wall. And smell the smells.”

“If I’m going to write a book every American will want to read, it’s got to have lots of pictures. Those pictures must also move, and all the words in the book must be spoken and available audibly for all the readers to hear as they watch.”

“When I pictured myself, it was always like just an outline in a colouring book, with the inside not yet completed.”

“You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”

“Writing a picture book is like writing 'War and Peace' in Haiku.”