When I was at the SCBWI conference (which I’ll be talking about forever!), I sat in a session with one of the Scholastic editors, and she said, “Andrew Clements is one of the most talented writers of this generation. Kids love his books! I wish we could clone him!”

Hmmmm … (a writer I need to learn something from, it seems.)

I happened to read his book, The School Story right before I went to New York, and it was fascinating. It’s about a little girl, Natalie, who wants to be a novelist. Her mom is an editor for a large children’s publisher, and Natalie sees the stack of unsolicted manuscripts that her mom never has time to read.

So a friend of hers, Zoe, offers to become her agent, and the story is so cute — giving me a behind-the-scenes peek at what an editor’s job is like living in NYC. Now I’m curious to read Frindle, which was Andrew Clements’ first novel, published in 1996. It became a New York Times bestseller. What is it about that book kids love so much?

I visited his website, and I found his bio page so inspiring, especially this last sentence. (Brought tears to my eyes even.)

Clements says:

Sometimes kids ask how I’ve been able to write so many books. The answer is simple: one word at a time. Which is a good lesson, I think. You don’t have to do everything at once. You don’t have to know how every story is going to end. You just have to take that next step, look for that next idea, write that next word. And growing up, it’s the same way. We just have to go to that next class, read that next chapter, help that next person. You simply have to do that next good thing, and before you know it, you’re living a good life.

The tag line on Clements’ website says, “Writing for children is a great privilege.” I couldn’t agree more.