Gene sits down with writer Patrick Ness — author of the award-winning middle grade book, A Monster Calls, the popular YA science fiction trilogy Chaos Walking, and the YA book The Rest of Us Just Live Here, a story about finding the extraordinary in your ordinary self. Ness says that “all writers are noticers” and that stories should reflect the diversity of the world around us. He advises kids to “reach up” and read books that are difficult or filled with ideas that may be beyond your understanding, because storytelling helps us make sense of the world. Find out why Richard Scarry’s Storybook Dictionary, The Westing Game, and The Color Purple made such a deep impression on him as a young reader, how writing a book is different from collaborating on a book-to-movie, and much more. Listen in!