Jewell Parker Rhodes Quotes

You can't write if you don't read.

A love of books has opened so many doors for me. Stories have inspired me and taught me to aspire.

All I know for certain is that reading is of the most intense importance to me; if I were not able to read, to revisit old favorites and experiment with names new to me, I would be starved - probably too starved to go on writing myself.

I have a lot of respect and love for children's books.

Part of my job as Children's Laureate is to visit schools and talk about my love of books and stories and encourage them all to do it as well - to read, to write, to never be afraid of their own voice. Because we all have something to say.

My idea of a good time is creating something and reading a good book.

I hope children will be happy with the books I've written, and go on to be readers all of their lives.

A recluse without books and ink is already in life a dead man.

When I was a teenager, reading for me was as normal, as unremarkable as eating or breathing. Reading gave flight to my imagination and strengthened my understanding of the world, the society I lived in, and myself. More importantly, reading was fun, a way to live more than one life as I immersed myself in each good book I read.

Books are challenging and inspirational to me.

One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.

I feel very privileged to have reached so many kids because a life without stories, without the power of books, would be a very grey world, it's good to add colour.

Books always help.

I've always been a reader and a writer.

Read everything! I believe that reading made me a writer.

Without books I would not have become a vivacious reader, and if you are not a reader you are not a writer.

All my life, books have felt alive; some more so than people, or rather, some people. Alive - this has to do with me, I know, and not the books - in a way that some people aren't. Alive as teachers, alive as minds, alive as imaginative triggers.

I think that children who read are better writers, and children who tell stories appreciate books.

Books should be right up there with exercise and diet as something that don't just entertain us but heal us. They tell us we are not alone and fix the pieces of us that can be shattered by reality. They are teachers, and they are friends, and we should never contemplate a world - or a life - without them.

I was always a big reader, even when everything was bad and miserable.

When you're reading, you're not where you are; you're in the book. By the same token, I can write anywhere.

One of the first serious attempts I made to write a novel was when I was in Grade 6 and I had read 'Matilda.' I wrote my own version and my teacher had it bound and permitted me to read it to the class - cementing my love of reading, writing and Roald Dahl!

I just want to sit in my room and write books.

I've only wanted paper and beautiful colors. It was my dream, and it still is my dream. And books. They're all I need, and the rest I can do without.

I always tell people that I became a writer not because I went to school but because my mother took me to the library. I wanted to become a writer so I could see my name in the card catalog.