Creating places for children to go

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --</style><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“There are so many magical places in books that you can't go to, like Hogwarts and Middle Earth, so I wanted to set a story in a place where children can actually go.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> – Cornelia Funke</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A German author of young adult fiction, Funke (pronounced Foon-ka) was born on this day in 1958 and is perhaps best known for her <i>Inkheart</i> trilogy, published in 2004–2008. The books chronicle the adventures of teen Meggie Folchart whose life changes dramatically when she realizes that she and her father, a bookbinder named Mo, have the unusual ability to bring characters from books into the real world when reading aloud. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mostly set in Northern Italy and its parallel world of the fictional <i>Inkheart</i>, the central story's arc  concerns the magic of books, their characters and creatures – and the art of reading.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">  </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8bbJ7yKysSg..." imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8bbJ7yKysSg..." /></a> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span>An avid reader herself, beginning during her <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“growing up years in northern Germany," she said she always wanted to be either an astronaut or a pilot but then gravitated toward social work and working with children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>And that, she said, led to her writing for kids. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As for her ideas, she said "they come from everywhere and nowhere, from outside and inside. I have so many, I won't be able to write them down in one lifetime."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As for her characters, Cornelia said, "Mostly they step into my writing room and are so much alive, that I ask myself, where did they come from?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A worldwide advocate for strong libraries, she said she encourages every child and every aspiring young writer to “Read – and be curious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I was a book, I would like to be a library book, so I would be taken home by all different sorts of kids,” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>“A library book, I imagine, is a very happy book.”<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Share <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Writer’s Moment</i> with a friend by clicking g+1 below.</span></b> </div>