In recent years I’ve endeavored to give young readers real-life protagonists their own age. I want my readers to ask themselves, “What would I have done?” I believe that teens experience sharper pangs of injustice than adults, and a greater determination to do something about it. Some, such as Claudette...

I'd like to tell you how and why I came to choose the Ivory-billed Woodpecker as the subject for a work of nonfiction. I did it to unite my two careers with one project: I am both an author and a conservationist (next week I will begin my twenty-ninth year...