“The character Cousin Elizabeth from JINGLE DANCER is an attorney who can't attend the next weekend's powwow because she has to work. She has been much remarked upon because professional women, especially professional Native women are so rarely seen in children's picture books.”

— on JINGLE DANCER (PB)

Read more from Cynsations: on JINGLE DANCER (PB); RAIN IS NOT MY INDIAN NAME (MG); INDIAN SHOES (CB); PERIOD PIECES (MG); IN MY GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE (MG); and MOCCASIN THUNDER (YA)

See also TANTALIZE and more global interviews with Cynthia.

— onNINJAS, PIRANHAS, AND GALILEO (MG)

Read Greg on TOFU AND T. REX (MG)

"ANATOMY OF A BOYFRIEND concerns a girl whose intelligence is above average but still longs uncontrollably for her knight in letterman jacket. Her behaviors may seem crazy, but in truth what she's experiencing couldn't be more natural and human."

—on ANATOMY OF A BOYFRIEND (YA)

"You know what? When I told my older sister I was writing a funny novel about a 13-year-old whose little brother has cancer, she said, 'Sounds like a real commercial blockbuster. Let me know how that goes!'"

— on DRUMS, GIRLS & DANGEROUS PIE (YA)

"My mother [Jane Yolen] has long said she has written every kind of book except a sports book, a cookbook, and a hard science book. She finally wrote Moon Ball, so sports was done. But, she hates to cook, so without me doing that part..."

— on FAIRY TALE FEASTS:
A LITERARY COOKBOOK FOR YOUNG READERS AND EATERS (PB)

“You see, when I write a book, it’s like I’m hopping in my car, and I’ve decided I’m going to visit Alaska. I have only a vague idea where Alaska is, and an even vaguer idea of how I’m getting there, because I don’t have a map, and why would I stop for directions? Eventually I do arrive, and although I’ve made a lot of detours, this is the way writing works for me.”

— on CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF A THIRD-WORLD KIND (MG)

"Having done this research and seeing the way that Witchcraft is so often negatively portrayed in the media, I wanted to show the true peaceful nature of this earth-based religion, without the hocus-pocus. I wanted to weave an education into the story, using Stacey Brown as a reflective, self-empowering young woman."

— on BLUE IS FOR NIGHTMARES (YA)

"I started to delve into the research--visiting the hospital, talking to former patients and staff, and reading and viewing everything I could get my hands on concerning the hospital. I got completely haunted by the research, so much so that I started keeping myself awake at night."

--on PROJECT 17 (YA)

"The idea for OLA'S WAKE came to me about ten years after Mother died. It was at her wake where a friend of hers asked if Ola had ever told me about the time they went berry picking and a bear got after them."

— on OLA’S WAKE (MG)

"Now there was a moment I'll never forget. I had published plenty of nonfiction books, but I had never really considered writing a novel. I was charged up. I went to my room and wrote until I couldn't stay awake any more. Then I jolted awake at about 4 am (probably only about two hours later) and wrote until breakfast. I couldn't stop. The book was pouring out of me."

— on A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL (YA)

"One night, after returning from New Orleans, the image of a musician with a rainbow coming out of his saxophone came to me so vividly that I knew I had to turn it into a story."

— on RAINBOW JOE AND ME (PB)

"Once I saw the book as a journey, then it all came together."

— on RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT (PB)

“The text of this book is addressed to a sunflower, beginning with the seed that a child is about to place in the ground: ‘Hello, little seed, / striped gray seed. / Do you really know everything / about sunflowers?’”

—on TO BE LIKE THE SUN (PB)