268 Quotes by Katherine Paterson

Youth is a mortal wound.

Children have to have access to books, and a lot of children can't go to a store and buy a book. We need not only our public libraries to be funded properly and staffed properly, but our school libraries. Many children can't get to a public library, and the only library they have is a school library.

Impressed. Lord. He had nearly drowned.

The problem with people who are afraid of imagination, of fantasy, is that their world becomes so narrow that I don't see how they can imagine beyond what their senses can verify. We know from science that there are entire worlds that our senses can't verify.

Some say it is the elements of hope and wonder in children's books that make them special. But there are many dark young adult novels these days. Adults loved Harry Potter, though it was written for the young. In the end, it is probably up to the reader of any age to decide if this book is for him or her.

a work that intends to be art must first be entertaining.

Kids often ask me if characters are real or made up - and I always tell them, 'I hope they're real but I made them up.'

A library is a feast to which we are all invited.

If you're so afraid of your imagination that you stifle it, how are you going to know God? How can you imagine heaven?