Kate DiCamillo's Blog, page 7

I was looking through the photos on my phone, trying to find one that looked right for this first day of a new year.
Here is what I came up with���two trees in winter.
And the trees in winter made me think of these wondrous words from Charlotte���s Web.
���Winter will pass, the days will lengthen, the ice will melt in the pasture pond. The song sparrow will return and sing, the frogs will awake, the warm wind will blow again. All these sights and sounds and smells will be yours to enjoy, Wi...

I have had two hawk encounters in the past week.
The first time it was early morning and foggy. I was walking with Henry down the middle of the street when a hawk came right toward me. I swear, the tip of his wing almost clipped my shoulder. He was that close.
The second hawk sighting occurred on Christmas Eve. I was on a busy street and I watched as a hawk swooped from the top of a tall building and landed on the branch of a tree on the other side of the street.
���Swooped��� isn���t really...

From the Candlewick team: Kate has been named Minneapolis Star Tribune "Artist of the Year"...a well deserved and appreciated honor for this tremendous year:
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/286798261.html?page=1&c=y

A LITTLE CHRISTMAS STORY

It was Christmas Eve everywhere, even in the barn, especially in the barn, where there were three geese, three cows, a horse, a goat and one mouse���all sleeping. From a very long way away, a bell tolled once, twice, three times. And then four times, five times, six times, all the way to twelve.
The mouse woke up.
The door to the barn opened and a small girl walked in carrying a lantern.
She held up the light as high as she was able. Her shadow trembled on the wal...

I woke yesterday morning to a raccoon tail draped across the skylight.
The rest of the raccoon was not visible, but from the angle and placement of the tail he seemed to be facing east.
���Hey,��� I shouted. ���Hey!���
The tail did not move.
What did he look like sitting up there? What was he doing?
I thought about texting my neighbor across the street and asking her to take a picture.
But I didn���t want to move--I���m still fighting this flu.
I feel beaten down and worried that I will neve...

I put up the Christmas tree on Friday, and got sick with the flu on Saturday.
I���ve been huddled under a blanket, staring at the tree ever since.
In particular, I���ve been admiring that squirrel ornament.
I look at it and think, my goodness, what a year it has been: a year of joy and squirrels and unanticipated occurrences. And love; there has been a lot of love.
I can���t say that I���m glad that I have the flu, but I am glad to have this time to just sit and consider the blessings I have...

From the Candlewick team: 10 shopping days left -- Check out Kate's book recommendations for young readers ! http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/2014/12/11/7131e9d6-6ede-11e4-ad12-3734c461eab6_story.html


Author Kate DiCamillo connects with young readers
www.washingtonpost.com
���Because of Winn-Dixie��� creator is Library of Congress���s Ambassador for Young People���s Literature.

On Tuesday afternoon, I was standing on a crowded airplane waiting to disembark. I was struggling to get into my jacket. I had one arm (the right one) in the jacket and I was flailing around (getting more and more frustrated) trying to get my left arm inserted properly, when I felt someone���s hand on my back. I turned. The woman in the row behind me had untangled my coat sleeve and was holding it open for me.
���There,��� she said, when I finally got the jacket on. ���There you go.���
She pa...

In the mailbag: a letter from a third grader named Gaby who lives in Katy, Texas.
Gaby just finished reading Flora and Ulysses. She said that she liked how the ���characters��� feelings change.��� She also liked the comics. ���Even though they are in black and white, they are full of color in my mind. The words show me how it would look in color.���
That is the magic of words. They can paint a world.
Thank goodness for books and the words and worlds inside of them.
Thank goodness for readers...

For the last few days I have been walking around with the words to a Robert Frost poem in my head.
The poem begins this way:
���Oh, stormy stormy world,
The days you were not swirled
Around with mist and cloud . . .���
I���ve memorized the whole of the poem so that I can say the words as a blessing at a celebration I���m attending later in the week.
The title alone strikes me as a blessing:
���Happiness Makes Up in Height for What it Lacks in Length.���
And it does do that, doesn���t it?
Ha...