Kate DiCamillo's Blog, page 14
May 8, 2014
I am in the happy position of being surrounded by people who love to read. Some...
I am in the happy position of being surrounded by people who love to read. Some of these people read for a living.
All of them read for pleasure.
Each of them is sustained by the power of the written word.
All of which is to say that I ask this question frequently: “What are you reading?”
And sometimes, when I ask the question, someone will answer me by actually handing me a book.
This happened on Sunday.
I said to my friend Lisa, “What are you reading?”
She handed me a stack of books.
Happi...
All of them read for pleasure.
Each of them is sustained by the power of the written word.
All of which is to say that I ask this question frequently: “What are you reading?”
And sometimes, when I ask the question, someone will answer me by actually handing me a book.
This happened on Sunday.
I said to my friend Lisa, “What are you reading?”
She handed me a stack of books.
Happi...
May 6, 2014
Last week, it rained all day long and all night, too.
On Friday, the sun came ou...
Last week, it rained all day long and all night, too.
On Friday, the sun came out and I went to a dinner at the University of Minnesota.
We were up high, in a room that looked out over the whole of Minneapolis. The sun lit up the buildings and turned them into the Emerald City.
I was standing by a window, marveling at the view, when an older gentleman came up to me and said, “Beautiful, huh?”
I said, “Yes. It’s like a dream.”
And he said, “Live long enough and you realize that’s all it is, ev...
On Friday, the sun came out and I went to a dinner at the University of Minnesota.
We were up high, in a room that looked out over the whole of Minneapolis. The sun lit up the buildings and turned them into the Emerald City.
I was standing by a window, marveling at the view, when an older gentleman came up to me and said, “Beautiful, huh?”
I said, “Yes. It’s like a dream.”
And he said, “Live long enough and you realize that’s all it is, ev...
May 1, 2014
What I love about spring is how you always have to pay attention.
If you turn...
What I love about spring is how you always have to pay attention.
If you turn your back, close your eyes (even for one moment), something has happened. Everything has changed. Some new thing has unfurled.
The last few lines of James Wright’s poem “A Blessing” are always in my head these days:
“suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
into blossom.”
Promises, everywhere.
If you turn your back, close your eyes (even for one moment), something has happened. Everything has changed. Some new thing has unfurled.
The last few lines of James Wright’s poem “A Blessing” are always in my head these days:
“suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
into blossom.”
Promises, everywhere.
April 29, 2014
From the Candlewick team: Gallop over to 100 Scope Notes to read Travis Jonker's...
From the Candlewick team: Gallop over to 100 Scope Notes to read Travis Jonker's snicker-inducing interview with Kate DiCamillo and Chris Van Dusen on the upcoming Leroy Ninker Saddles Up (also the joy of inventing words, and cars with tailfins).
http://100scopenotes.com/2014/04/29/a-conversation-with-kate-dicamillo-and-chris-van-dusen/
A Conversation with Kate DiCamillo and Chris Van Dusen — @100scopenotes 100 Scope Notes
100scopenotes.com
For author Kate DiCamillo and illustrator Chris Van Du...
http://100scopenotes.com/2014/04/29/a-conversation-with-kate-dicamillo-and-chris-van-dusen/
A Conversation with Kate DiCamillo and Chris Van Dusen — @100scopenotes 100 Scope Notes
100scopenotes.com
For author Kate DiCamillo and illustrator Chris Van Du...
I keep seeing that red-tailed hawk.
Yesterday morning, he was sitting in the nei...
I keep seeing that red-tailed hawk.
Yesterday morning, he was sitting in the neighbor’s tree when Henry came trotting up the sidewalk.
The hawk watched Henry.
I watched Henry, and I watched the hawk, too.
“Hurry up,” I said to Henry.
The hawk opened his wings, closed them.
Once, when I was down by the river, I watched a hawk swoop down and pick up a rabbit.
Henry is, basically, rabbit-sized.
“Come on,” I shouted to Henry.
Henry walked in the door. I closed it and looked out the window.
The ha...
Yesterday morning, he was sitting in the neighbor’s tree when Henry came trotting up the sidewalk.
The hawk watched Henry.
I watched Henry, and I watched the hawk, too.
“Hurry up,” I said to Henry.
The hawk opened his wings, closed them.
Once, when I was down by the river, I watched a hawk swoop down and pick up a rabbit.
Henry is, basically, rabbit-sized.
“Come on,” I shouted to Henry.
Henry walked in the door. I closed it and looked out the window.
The ha...
April 24, 2014
From the mailbag:
Mason in New Jersey says, “I enjoy your book The Tale of Despe...
From the mailbag:
Mason in New Jersey says, “I enjoy your book The Tale of Despereaux very much. But, I have a question that is most of the time unanswered, how do you get the ideas for your books? How do your ideas come? And how much do you enjoy making the books?”
Something about this letter moves me very much.
I wrote back and said that I love making the books, but that making the books is not easy for me.
But, where do the ideas come from?
Somehow, for all my efforts to answer that ques...
Mason in New Jersey says, “I enjoy your book The Tale of Despereaux very much. But, I have a question that is most of the time unanswered, how do you get the ideas for your books? How do your ideas come? And how much do you enjoy making the books?”
Something about this letter moves me very much.
I wrote back and said that I love making the books, but that making the books is not easy for me.
But, where do the ideas come from?
Somehow, for all my efforts to answer that ques...
April 22, 2014
I was in college when I decided that I wanted to be a writer, but it wasn’t unti...
I was in college when I decided that I wanted to be a writer, but it wasn’t until I was thirty years old that I started writing.
I’ve been at it for twenty years now.
Last week, I went to a writer’s retreat.
I did most of my writing in this red chair.
Each morning, when I sat down in the chair, my thoughts went something like this:
--Am I doing this right?
--What am I doing?
--I don’t know what I’m doing.
I’ve had those very same thoughts for twenty years.
And one of the things I’ve learned i...
I’ve been at it for twenty years now.
Last week, I went to a writer’s retreat.
I did most of my writing in this red chair.
Each morning, when I sat down in the chair, my thoughts went something like this:
--Am I doing this right?
--What am I doing?
--I don’t know what I’m doing.
I’ve had those very same thoughts for twenty years.
And one of the things I’ve learned i...
April 18, 2014
From the Candlewick team: Congratulations to Kate DiCamillo and illustrator K.G....
From the Candlewick team: Congratulations to Kate DiCamillo and illustrator K.G. Campbell! Flora and Ulysses is the 2014 E. B. White Read-Aloud Award Winner for Middle Readers!
http://www.bookweb.org/node/28992
ABA Announces 2014 Indies Choice and E.B. White Read-Aloud Award Winners | American Booksellers...
www.bookweb.org
The winners of the 2014 Indies Choice Book Awards and the E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards, as voted by independent booksellers nationwide, were announced today by the American...
http://www.bookweb.org/node/28992
ABA Announces 2014 Indies Choice and E.B. White Read-Aloud Award Winners | American Booksellers...
www.bookweb.org
The winners of the 2014 Indies Choice Book Awards and the E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards, as voted by independent booksellers nationwide, were announced today by the American...
April 17, 2014
Some book titles seem like short poems to me: Enormous Changes at the Last Minut...
Some book titles seem like short poems to me: Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (Grace Paley), A River Runs Through It (Norman Maclean)
And then there is Bill Holm’s wonderful The Heart Can Be Filled Anywhere on Earth.
Say those words out loud.
The heart can be filled anywhere on earth.
Now, look out your window.
Do you see?
And then there is Bill Holm’s wonderful The Heart Can Be Filled Anywhere on Earth.
Say those words out loud.
The heart can be filled anywhere on earth.
Now, look out your window.
Do you see?
April 15, 2014
From the Candlewick team: Kate DiCamillo's Top Ten Reasons to participate in Ind...
From the Candlewick team: Kate DiCamillo's Top Ten Reasons to participate in Indies First Storytime Day (May 17)!
http://www.bookweb.org/news/kate-dicamillo’s-top-10-reasons-participate-indies-first-storytime-day
Kate DiCamillo’s Top 10 Reasons to Participate in Indies First Storytime Day | American...
www.bookweb.org
People, oh my people! (All you glorious and talented authors and illustrators.) Have you signed up for Indies First Storytime Day yet?
http://www.bookweb.org/news/kate-dicamillo’s-top-10-reasons-participate-indies-first-storytime-day
Kate DiCamillo’s Top 10 Reasons to Participate in Indies First Storytime Day | American...
www.bookweb.org
People, oh my people! (All you glorious and talented authors and illustrators.) Have you signed up for Indies First Storytime Day yet?
