Kate DiCamillo

Tonight I took one of my granddaughters to the Kate DiCamillo lecture. A small woman with big hair, Kate DiCamillo (wonderful name) was down to earth and feisty. Edgy. She is not all sugar and sticky candy, that's for sure. After announcing that she hates giving speeches, she gave a speech in which she told about what may have been her most embarassing moment. As a child she copied in long hand a story from Humpty Dumpty magazine and her mother leaped to the conclusion that she had written it--which she had, in a sense, which led to a misunderstanding which balooned up into a massive ugly sad mess.

The point was that the attention she got when everyone thought that she had written the story led to her deciding to become a writer. During college and after she always told everyone she was a writer and bought a lot of black turtle necks and went around looking aloof and morose.

But she did not actually write anything that was published until she was 36. At that time, she had an epiphany: If she was going to be known as a writer, she would have to write something.

She lived in Florida most of her life, but at the age of 36 moved to Minneapolis. (She is now 42 and still lives there.) This is the story of why she moved to a climate she likened to that of Siberia, after living in sunny FL most of her life:

She had been going with a guy (she pronounced his name slowly and clearly and even provided the spelling) for ten years and was thinking it was about time he asked her to marry him. So when a friend said she was moving to Minniapolis, Kate DiCamillo said she would move with her, thinking of course this would put a burr under his saddle. When she told him she was moving to Minneapolis, he offered to help her rent the trailer.

To sum up, Di Camillo's advice to writers just starting out is to write. And, oh, yeah, to read a lot, also.

She did not suggest that writing is easy. Rather, she said it is painful process for her, but she loves the finished product! That book she can hold in her hand.

I bought two of her books, Because of Winn-Dixie, and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane for my granddaughter, but since getting them signed meant standing in line for two hours, we had to forego that pleasure. Because of Winn-Dixie has a huge smiling galumphing dog in it. (I may have mentioned that I am a sucker for dogs or cats, anywhere, anytime.)

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is about a stuffed rabbit toy that winds up naked in the ocean. I have not read it yet--I'll have to borrow it from my granddaughter. I think DiCamillo's most famous book is the sweet onceuponatime story of a mouse who falls in love with a princess, The Tale of Desperaux.

In my mind, there is no division between children's books and adult books--a good book is a good book is a good book.