I have very positive memories of reading biographies of unusual Americans as a child.

I think most people agree there is a component of skill in art making; you have to learn grammar before you learn how to write.

Santa is our culture's only mythic figure truly believed in by a large percentage of the population. It's a fact that most of the true believers are under eight years old, and that's a pity.

My ideas are not meant to suggest dreams or reality, but a surreal quality.

The crudest thing I've done as a teacher was to require students to write a national anthem for their country and sing it themselves.

'The Polar Express' began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myself, 'What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?'

The Polar Express is about faith, and the power of imagination to sustain faith. It's also about the desire to reside in a world where magic can happen, the kind of world we all believed in as children, but one that disappears as we grow older.

The general effect of viewing 'Jumanji' is thrilling. I was able to see on film a thing that at one point had only existed in my imagination. I got to see the images from my book come alive.