"It's not easy. I got lots of rejections when I first started out. If you want to write, you have to ..." — Rick Riordan

I loved the idea of making history interesting for kids! When Scholastic approached me about 'The 39 Clues', I immediately started going through the 'greatest hits' from my years as a social studies teacher, and picked the historical characters and eras that most appealed to my students.

I have a great deal of sympathy for reluctant readers because I was one. I would do anything to avoid reading. In my case, it wasn't until I was 13 and discovered the 'Lord of the Rings' that I learned to love reading.

I can't promise that every child with learning differences will become a novelist, but I do think all children can become lifelong readers.

I do like to wrap things up and leave some things to the readers' imagination.