Young Adult

Venus My Love, 2003

“Do you love him?”

Aylin looked away from her mother. “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, I love him…”

Her whisper rose from the little balcony, slipped through the darkness that a few scattered streetlights struggled to illuminate, and travelled all the way to the Evening Star. It was like a wise person’s magical message, destined to remain intact for thousands of years.

For a brief moment, the Evening Star shone more brightly at the sound of her whisper, like an ember stirred by the wind…

I Love Her, 1995

I was very shy. (I still am, actually, but I’ve learned to hide it a little!) Because I was too shy to say “I love you,” I always had to say “I love her” instead. I told other people how I felt, but never the person herself…

This book contains stories of love at a very young age—love that, of course, was never really lived out.

“Are they all true?” children ask me when I visit schools. The book is especially popular with sixth graders.

“Well…” I say. “Some of them are…”