Kelly Barnhill: Hi, my name is Kelly Barnhill, and I am the author of The Ogress And The Orphans. Some of you may have read one or two of my other books. One of them you might know is The Girl Who Drank The Moon. Like The Girl Who Drank The Moon, this is a fairytale, or it began as a fairytale. It actually began in kind of a strange way. I was feeling kind of worried about the world and worried about the lack of kindness and neighborliness that I was seeing on the news and online and the way in which people were talking to each other. And so I did what I often do when I'm feeling worried about things. I started writing fairy tales, and one day I started writing a story about an ogress, an ogress who lived on the edge of a town that was suffering.

And I didn't know what I had written. Had I written a picture book? Had I written a chapter book? Had I written a novel? I just didn't really know. And my editor said, "I'm pretty sure this is a novel. I think you need to get to know all of the children, and I think that you need to spend more time in this town." And so I did. I made maps, and I made conversations, and I imagined what might be like to learn the language of the crows, and I watched how animals interact with one another. I watched how people interact with one another. And I started to ask myself, "What is a neighbor? And what does it mean to be generous? And what does it mean to give to somebody else without ever wanting anything in return?"

I hope that you also enjoy thinking about these things as well. Why is it important to be generous? Why is it important to be kind? Why is it important to be a neighbor? Why must we all be neighbors to one another? Because after all, the more you give, the more you have.

I am going to read to you a little bit from The Ogress And The Orphans.

I don't even like to think about him.

I should clarify: It is not my intention to speak ill of dragons generally. It is a terrible practice to prejudge anyone, be they ogres or orphans or dragons or nosy neighbors or assistant principles or people with unusual manners. It is important, always, to treat everyone with compassion and respect. This is well known.

As for dragons in particular, they are as diverse in their dispositions as any other creature. I, myself, have encountered dragons of every personality type -- shy, gregarious, lazy, fastidious, self-centered, bighearted, enthusiastic, and brave.

But this dragon, I'm sorry to say, was none of those things. This dragon was greedy, perfidious, and indifferent. He felt no remorse, and he had not been redeemed. He delighted in discord and sewed acrimony wherever he went. These are all large words, and I apologize for them. But my feelings about this dragon are large.