SOURCE: Pratchett, Terry, and Robert Hanks. “Books Interview.” Independent (13 July 2002): 20.

In the following interview, Hanks commends Pratchett's ability to write for children without being condescending while still appealing to adult audiences as well.

There is an undoubted suggestion of the cat who got the cream about Terry Pratchett when I meet him in a hotel room in west London. He is, I would say, feeling just the teensiest bit smug—as most of us would if we sold as many books as he does, and had just won the Carnegie Medal for an outstanding book for children.

The pleasure is enhanced by his genuine surprise at winning. For two reasons: one is that, having been shortlisted twice before, he made a point of not assuming he would win. But he's also surprised because he didn't think that The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents was the sort of...