As a kid, Margaret Peterson Haddix was a real bookworm: she remembers her mother asking her to please put down her books to enjoy some of the scenery on family vacations. Haddix was so attached to reading, that she considered the characters in books like 'Harriet the Spy' and 'Little Women' to be her friends. Haddix herself writes YA fiction that critics have called 'absorbing and realistic;' science fiction that is 'chilling and intelligent,' and younger grades fiction that is 'sympathetic but not simplistic.' To view the full version of this and other author interviews, visit us at www.readingrockets.org, a national education service of public television station WETA. Funding is provided by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.