ES: The book itself became required reading for many schoolchildren as the years went on, and subsequently the movie was shown in many classrooms. What was it like for you to know that your work was having an impact on such a large audience over the years?

MP: It was wonderful. Everywhere I've lived, schools would show the movie and they would have me come in and talk to classes. There was a quiet period where people stopped paying attention to it, but in the last six years there has been such attention being paid again to the movie. This year, I'm going to Israel to the Yad Vashem. I've offered them my script of the movie.