“I won’t speak at schools where the students haven’t read my books. I have certain grades I like to talk to more than others. I won’t drive great distances. I am sort of a pill about all this. On the other hand, I answer all my e-mails, I send bookplates to those who request them, I do free things locally. But if I had to depend on my own promotional activities to sell my
books, my books wouldn’t get sold.”

—Jeanne DuPrau (City Of Ember is such a wonderful book, isn’t it? JDP has such a talent for creating believable young people. Wish the movie had done a million times better than it did. But I haven’t seen it, so have no clue as to quality or—why am I still writing?)