Kate DiCamillo's Blog, page 27

A friend sent me this Martha Graham quote last week and I have found myself goin...

A friend sent me this Martha Graham quote last week and I have found myself going back to it again and again, for comfort and for hope; and so I thought I would post her words here. Maybe all of you who are trying to create something will be inspired, too.

“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time. This expression is unique and if you block it it will never exist
through any other medium and be lost....

I turned 49 yesterday. My feet hurt. My neck alarms me. I need glasses t...

I turned 49 yesterday.
My feet hurt.
My neck alarms me.
I need glasses to read.
So you can imagine how pleased I was to receive a letter from an “almost 10 year old” named Elaine who ended her missive to me with these words “I doubt you are writing another book because of you[r] old age, but I could be wrong.”
Wheeeee.
Each time, I read this sentence, I laugh out loud.
The laughing-out-loud makes me feel wonderful, and also a tiny bit youthful.
Elaine, I want you to know that in spite of m...

Whoever has been making the trees smile, thank you.I can’t help it; I smile ba...

Whoever has been making the trees smile, thank you.
I can’t help it; I smile back.
I think it is a very good thing to go around smiling.
I think it is a very good thing to go around smiling at trees.

On Friday, I went to watch a group of fourth graders stage a play of The Tiger R...

On Friday, I went to watch a group of fourth graders stage a play of The Tiger Rising.
I wept several times.
Once when Rob insists that his father say his mother’s name (“Caroline, Caroline”)
And again, when Sistine takes hold of Rob’s hand.
But I saved my big tears for the end, when the actors stood in front of the audience and answered questions.
Someone asked the kids why they wanted to turn The Tiger Rising into a play.
The boy who had played the tiger, took the microphone and said, “Wh...

I am having a wonderful, illuminating, entertaining time reading the letters of...

I am having a wonderful, illuminating, entertaining time reading the letters of E.B. White. I came across this line last night and underlined it. White writes, in a letter to his brother, about his predilection for writing about “impertinences and irrelevancies.”
Which leads him to this insight: “sometimes in writing of myself . . . I have occasionally had the exquisite thrill of putting my finger on a little capsule of truth.”
These letters are chock-a-block with those little capsules of tr...

Last week, on the same evening I held the chipmunk, I also got to meet a flying...

Last week, on the same evening I held the chipmunk, I also got to meet a flying squirrel. I scratched his ears and looked into his enormous eyes.
And then, later, when it was dark, I stood outside and watched another (different) flying squirrel glide from the top of a telephone pole to the branches of a tree. His underbelly glowed in the darkness.
Looking up at him, I had one of those moments of perfect happiness . . . wonder, awe, gratitude . . . I felt pinned to the earth and buoyed up, bo...

In this week’s mail: a letter from Eli which ends with this question: what book...

In this week’s mail: a letter from Eli which ends with this question: what book are you reading right now?
I love it when people ask me what I am reading, but it’s always a complicated question for me to answer because I have several books going at once, in several different parts of the house. Some books I read in a day or two, some books I carry around with me for months and months.
So, here after wandering around the house, is what I’ve got going right now:
Never Fall Down by Patricia McCo...

Over the weekend, I met a hibernating chipmunk named Hoover. I held her in th...

Over the weekend, I met a hibernating chipmunk named Hoover.
I held her in the palm of my hand and watched her sleep.
Later that night, I went to a party where we were encouraged to stand up and tell stories about something that surprised us.
The stories were fabulous.
I tried to think of something surprising that had happened to me, and I kept coming back to the chipmunk: how light and cool she was, how she weighed nothing at all in my hand.
I wanted to stand up and say: I have been surpri...

Some further thoughts on the mail: sometimes kids will put photos in their lette...

Some further thoughts on the mail: sometimes kids will put photos in their letters (of themselves, their dogs, their grandmothers, their fish) and sometimes they will put in little gifts. I’ve received friendship bracelets and pencils and erasers and tiny plastic animals.
The animals are arranged on a shelf in my office. I make good use (or try to) of the pencils and erasers. And I am proud to wear the friendship bracelets.
Last week, there was a long letter from a girl in France. She had ta...

For almost thirteen years now, I’ve been getting letters in the mail from kids....

For almost thirteen years now, I’ve been getting letters in the mail from kids. These missives are honest (“I didn’t really like your book, but my teacher said I had to write you a letter anyway”), heartfelt (“I know how Opal feels. I have had to be the new kid in town.”), funny (“Hey, I keep on meaning to tell you that they have made a movie out of one of your books. You should see if you can look at it.”) and engaging (“I want to tell you some things about myself. But there is so much about...