This book made a lot more sense to me when I read the afterword, which maybe should have been first. It is the Newbery Award winner's answer to the questions about why she writes and how she comes up with her ideas and what writing means to her. As such, it is inspired. Without that purpose it is sort of a mixed up book. The text is really big, but the reading level is higher then the text would indicate, and the children talk in ways real children don't. They are less real children then ways of communicating the author's ideas about writing. I think this book would make an excellent read-aloud for classrooms working on creative writing and for classrooms who are planning an author visit.