Children have limited power to shape their own lives, but when they can experiment with possibilities through books, their optimism can be recharged and kept alive.

I was named after my Jewish grandfather who left Poland early in the 20th century. What I knew from an early age was that he had lived most of his life in England, his Jewish wife had died, and he married a non-Jewish woman who was my grandmother.

I've always been aware that to be named after someone from the past carries with it all kinds of bittersweetness.

Morris Gleitzman Quotes