https://groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.books.childrens/c/WHflz3S3E2s/m/edvg3ak3WPoJ
(birthday post from 2015 - it includes a link to her long booklist)
Excerpt:
...Giff explains, "I want the children to bubble up with laughter, or to
cry over my books. I want to picture them under a cherry tree or at the
library with my book in their hands. But more, I want to see them reading
in the classroom. I want to see children in solitude at their desks,
reading, absorbing, lost in a book."
Giff tries to write books "that say ordinary people are special." She
says, "All of my books are based in some way on my personal experiences,
or the experiences of members of my family, or the stories kids would tell
me in school." Therefore, when she runs out of ideas for her books, Giff
says, "I take a walk and look around. Maybe I spend some time in a
classroom and watch the kids for a while. Sometimes I lie on the living
room floor and remember my days in second grade or third. If all that
doesn't work, I ask Ali, or Jim, or Bill"--Giff's children, whose names
often appear in her books...
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