Fairy tales have always got to have something a bit scary for children – as long as you make them laugh as well.
I asked my mum, who’s a very clever psychotherapist, and she says that kids love stories about death; they need it, they need to have stories that deal with death and explain it, as a place to put their fears.
I am suspicious of both facility and speed.
If I had my way, I’d remove January from the calendar altogether and have an extra July instead.
If I were a headmaster, I would get rid of the history teacher and get a chocolate teacher instead and my pupils would study a subject that affected all of them.
Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful.
Though my father was Norwegian, he always wrote his diaries in perfect English.
I never get any protests from children. All you get are giggles of mirth and squirms of delight. I know what children like.
Eschew all those beastly adjectives...
It is preferable to incur a mild punishment than to perform an onerous task.
But it is impossible to replace a person one has loved with distractions.
Good writing is essentially rewriting.
It was slowly beginning to dawn upon Henry that nothing is any fun if you can get as much of it as you want. Especially money.
When writing about oneself, one must strive to be truthful. Truth is more important than modesty.
The snozberries taste like snozberries!
Me is the only one what won’t be gobbled up because giants is never eating giants.
Rainbow drops – suck them and you can spit in six different colours.
Had I not had children of my own, I would have never written books for children, nor would I have been capable of doing so.
I want an Oompa-Loompa!? screamed Veruca.
The Bristol Channel was always my guide, and I was always able to draw an imaginary line from my bed to our house over in Wales. It was a great comfort.