Katrina Elizabeth "Kate" DiCamillo (born March 25, 1964) is an American author of children's fiction. Her 2003 novel The Tale of Despereaux won the annual Newbery Medal as the "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children", three years after Because of Winn-Dixie was a runner up (Newbery Honor Book). DiCamillo is also known for the Mercy Watson series of picture books, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen.

Life[link]

Born in Philadelphia, DiCamillo suffered from chronic pneumonia. At age five, she moved to Clermont, Florida for her health (warmer climate) with her mother and her older brother Curt DiCamillo, who would become a noted architectural historian. Her mother was a teacher. Her father remained in Pennsylvania to sell his orthodontic practice and never rejoined the family in Florida.^[1][2]

DiCamillo earned her college degree in English at the University of Florida in 1987 and worked in Florida after graduation. At age 30 she moved to Minneapolis and began working at a book warehouse. That job inspired her to write for children and allowed her to meet a sales representative for Candlewick Press, resulting in submission of a draft that would become Because of Winn-Dixie.^[1]

Her 2003 novel The Tale of Despereaux was inspired by a friend's son, Luke Bailey, who asked her to write about an unlikely hero with "exceptionally large ears".^[3]

Adaptations[link]

In 2005, Because of Winn-Dixie was released as a film by 20th Century Fox. Universal Pictures released The Tale of Despereaux on December 19, 2008.^[4] The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane was optioned by New Line Cinema and is in early pre-production.^{[citation needed]} 20th Century Fox has hired Martin Hynes to write a script based on the book, The Magician's Elephant.^[5]

Bibliography[link]

Novels^[6]

• Because of Winn-Dixie (2000)
• The Tiger Rising (2001)
• The Tale of Despereaux: being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread (2003), illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering
• The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (2006), illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
• The Magician's Elephant (2009), illustrated by Yoko Tanaka

Chapter books^[6]

• Mercy Watson series

(Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press; text by Kate DiCamillo; illustrations by Chris Van Dusen). Mercy Watson is a fictional pig.

Mercy Watson to the Rescue (2005)

Mercy Watson Fights Crime (2006)

Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride (2006)

Mercy Watson: Princess in Disguise (2007)

Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig (2008)

Mercy Watson: Something Wonky This Way Comes (2009)

• Bink & Gollie (2010), text by DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrations by Tony Fucile
• Bink & Gollie: Two for One (2012), text by DiCamillo and McGhee, illustrations by Fucile

Picture books^[6]

• Great Joy (2007), illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
• Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken (2008), pictures by Harry Bliss

Short stories

• "The Third Floor Bedroom", in Chris Van Allsburg, et al., The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011)^[7][8]

Awards[link]

• 1998 McKnight Artist Fellowship for Writers
• 2000 Josette Frank Award, Because of Winn-Dixie'
• 2001 Newbery Honor Book, Because of Winn-Dixie
• 2001 finalist, National Book Award for Young People's Literature, The Tiger Rising^[9]
• 2004 Newbery Medal, The Tale of Despereaux
• 2006 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
• 2007 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor, Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride
• 2011 Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal, Bink and Gollie (with co-author Alison McGhee and illustrator Tony Fucile)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Kate DiCamillo home page
• Kate DiCamillo at the Internet Movie Database
• Kate DiCamillo bio at Candlewick Press

Interviews

• 2002 National Book Festival webcast, 12 October 2002
• Scholastic interviews: March 2003, 27 January 2005 and 28 January 2005
• BBC Q&A with author Kate DiCamillo, 14 June 2004
• 2004 National Book Festival webcast, 9 October 2004
• Under Cover video interview with Kate DiCamillo, School Library Journal, 3 March 2006

Look up Kate is a slag in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Kate is a feminine given name. It is sometimes a short form of Katherine, which is Greek meaning pure, blessed, virginal and popularity. It may refer to:

People with the given name Kate:

• Kate (given name)

In meteorology:

• Hurricane Kate (1985), which hit the US
• Typhoon Kate (1970), a super typhoon that struck the Philippines

Ships

• CSS Kate was a 165' wooden hulled sidewheel steamer of 477 tons used by the Confederacy as a blockade runner that made 20 successful runs through the Union blockade during the American Civil War.

Other:

• "Kate" a young adult novel by Valerie Sherrard
• Kate (song), a song by Ben Folds Five
• Nakajima B5N, a Japanese torpedo bomber, Allied reporting name "Kate"
• Kate (text editor), a text editor for KDE
• KATE, a radio station in Minnesota, USA
• "Kate" is rhyming slang for Army (it rhymes with Kate Carney)
• An alternative title of Crabbit Old Woman, a poem attributed to Phyllis McCormack
• The Kâte language, a Papuan language

See also[link]

• Catherina (and similar spellings)
• Kathleen

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Alison McGhee (Born: July 8, 1960) is an American author of books for all ages. She has published several picture books, books for children, and adult novels. She is a New York Times bestselling author, the winner of numerous awards, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her novel Shadow Baby.

Education[link]

Holland Patent High School, New York^[1]
Middlebury College, Vermont^[1]

Career[link]

Alison McGhee is an eclectic writer who had published works for all ages, in many forms. Her first novel, Rainlight, is a heartrending story which follows the characters left behind after the sudden and accidental death of Starr Williams. It received positive reviews and won both the Great Lakes College Association National Fiction Award and the Minnesota Book Award in 1999.^[2] McGhee's sophomore effort, Shadow Baby, is witnessed through the eyes of a young girl who befriends an old man as part of a school project. Clara Winter and Georg Kominsky are strong characters who find in each other light in a dark world. It was a Pulitzer Prize nominee. McGhee continued her adult themes with 'Was It Beautiful?.

She then began writing children's pictures. Countdown to Kindergarten and Mrs. Watson Wants Your Teeth, both share the same main character who begins the first story as she enters kindergarten and is in first grade by the second book.

Turning her hand to young adult novels, McGhee introduced Snap and All Rivers Flow to the Sea.

In Only a Witch Can Fly McGhee focuses on poetry. In this story-poem, created in sestina form, a little girl dreams about flying on her broom.^[3]

In addition to being an award winning author, McGhee is a professor of creative writing at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Personal life[link]

McGhee is single with three children.^[2]

Bibliography[link]

Novels[link]

• 1998 - Rainlight
• 2000 - Shadow Baby
• 2003 - Was It Beautiful?
• 2007 - Falling Boy

Young Adult Novels[link]

• 2004 - Snap
• 2005 - All Rivers Flow to the Sea

Children's Chapter Books[link]

• 2008 - Julia Gillian and the Art Of Knowing - Illustrated by Drazen Kozjan
• 2009 - Julia Gillian and the Quest for Joy - Illustrated by Drazen Kozjan

? - Julia Gillian and the Dream of a Dog

Picture Books[link]

• 2002 - Countdown to Kindergarten - Illustrated by Harry Bliss
• 2004 - Mrs. Watson Wants Your Teeth - Illustrated by Harry Bliss
• 2006 - A Very Brave Witch - Illustrated by Harry Bliss
• 2007 - Someday - Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
• 2008 - Bye-bye, Crib - Illustrated by Ross MacDonald
• 2008 - Little Boy - Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
• 2009 - Always - Illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre
• 2009 - Song of Middle C - Illustrated by Scott Menchin
• 2009 - Only a Witch Can Fly - Illustrated by Taeeun Yoo
• 2010 - So Many Days - Illustrated by Taeeun Yoo
• 2010 - Bink and Gollie (with Kate DiCamillo) - Illustrated by Tony Fucile

Awards[link]

2011 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award with co-author Kate DiCamillo and illustrator Tony Fucile (Bink and Gollie)^[4]

2003 Minnesota Book Award (Countdown to Kindergarten)

The Great Lakes College Association National Fiction Award
1999 Minnesota Book Award (Rainlight)

Notes[link]

1. ^ ^{a b} Simon and Schuster Homepage. http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Alison-McGhee/21408612/author_revealed
2. ^ ^{a b} Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 26 July 2007. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009.
3. ^ Downes, Lawrence. "Once Upon a Broomstick." The New York Times Book Review. (11 Oct. 2009): Book Review Desk: p12(L). Literature Resource Center. Gale. Hennepin County Library. 4 Jan. 2010 <http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.hclib.org/ps/start.do?p=LitRC&u=hennepin>.
4. ^ American Libraries, http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/news/ala/kate-dicamillo-alison-mcghee-and-tony-fucile-win-geisel-award-bink-and-gollie,March 8,2011

External links[link]

• http://www.alisonmcghee.com/
• http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Alison-McGhee