Kate DiCamillo's Blog, page 37

Here is a picture of a poster that hangs in my office.The poster explains Vowe...

Here is a picture of a poster that hangs in my office.
The poster explains Vowel Rule 3: When a word or syllable with two vowels ends in “e” the first vowel is usually long and the “e” is silent.
Huh?
Phonics didn’t make any sense to me in first grade, and it doesn’t make any sense to me now.
I remember telling my mother that I wanted to learn how to read and that phonics wasn’t helping me at all.
And this what my mother said: “Well, I guess you’ll have to find your own way then. Why don’t y...

I will jump from a good high spot,far up into the sky,and fly up, up, up....

I will jump from a good high spot,
far up into the sky,
and fly up, up, up.

from Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik, pictures by Maurice Sendak


Rest in peace, Mr. Sendak.
Your art was the good high spot from which my seven-year-old heart jumped.

The first time I had an overdue fine at the library was when I was eight years o...

The first time I had an overdue fine at the library was when I was eight years old. The fine was for a book that told the story of George Washington Carver’s life. I loved the man so much—his gentleness, his curiosity, his great affection and respect for the peanut—that I couldn’t bear to part with the book.
Yesterday, I was in a used bookstore and found a biography of George Washington Carver by Anne Terry White.
Here is the first sentence of the flap copy: “On a wild winter night in the O...

A second grade class in Glenview, Illinois wrote me to say that while their teac...

A second grade class in Glenview, Illinois wrote me to say that while their teacher read them Edward Tulane, they drew pictures of what they heard.
Here is one of the pictures.
There is, unfortunately, no name on the drawing; but to the right of the picture, these words are carefully written: “Abiline [sic] as an aldult [sic] finding Edward.”
The letter ends: “This is the message we got from your story. Never give up on love. The best thing you’ll ever learn is love. Love is very important....

A couple of times a week, I walk past a fast food drive-thru. I always stop for...

A couple of times a week, I walk past a fast food drive-thru. I always stop for a second or two and listen to what people are ordering. Partly, this is because I am hungry. And partly it is because I am curious. But it is also because I like to listen to the sound of people’s voices as they ask for something and believe that they are going to get what they need.
I myself would like a poetry drive-thru. I would like to pull my car up to the order board and say, “I feel lonely” or “I feel sad”...

I took this picture in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Windhover Hall. Standing in t...

I took this picture in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Windhover Hall. Standing in that hall was like being enfolded in a gigantic pair of wings and then lifted up: everything was shot through with radiance; I could hear some great muffled heartbeat.
It occurred to me that I don’t stand still enough, don’t look up enough, don’t listen as well as I should.
So: slower. More quietly. Look up, look up.

Yesterday, in honor of World Book Night, a friend and I went to the doors of the...

Yesterday, in honor of World Book Night, a friend and I went to the doors of the adult education center and up to the commuter train and down to the bus stop and back to the adult education center again. We passed out copies of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Friday Night Lights. Everyone was glad to see us, and even better, everyone we met was truly thrilled to get a book.
So instead of giving, I felt like I got.
Thank you for smiling at me as I walked toward you.
Thank you for taking...

Last week, I was walking on the Greenway with Henry and a friend when a red-tail...

Last week, I was walking on the Greenway with Henry and a friend when a red-tailed hawk flew past. When the hawk saw Henry, he stopped and hovered, calculating.
It was very clear that he thought Henry would be something good to eat.
The hawk hung there for a few seconds, studying us; and then he gave a lazy flap of his wings and moved on.
In the meantime, Henry had continued trotting down the path--ears flopping up and down tongue hanging out--absolutely oblivious to the fact that he had ju...

My journey toward becoming a writer was long and slow and fraught with innumerab...

My journey toward becoming a writer was long and slow and fraught with innumerable Sloughs of Despond. I never thought I would be able to write a book. I never really believed that I would get published.
So, when these packets of letters from kids (and adults) show up on my doorstep, it never fails to take me by surprise--I wrote a book! It got published! Someone read it! They wrote me a letter!!
Each week, there is at least one letter that undoes me—moves me, thrills me, makes me think, give...

From Tin House magazine (Volume 13, Number 3)--an article by Ken Iagnemma entitl...

From Tin House magazine (Volume 13, Number 3)--an article by Ken Iagnemma entitled "How to Build a Robot in Four Easy Steps"

"Creations do not emerge from their creators exhibiting perfect form and function. In fact, complex creations never achieve perfection. The myth of perfection was invented by naysayers . . . to cripple creativity."

These are good words to have in the darkness of early morning.
I am not making a robot, of course. But I am working, in this darkness, to tell a stor...