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This is the great thing about writing for kids. Adults might not do anything if they recognized me. But if they do see me, and they're with a kid, they'll tell the kid who I am. They think they should give that to the kid. So generally that sends the kid over.

Kate DiCamillo

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Kate DiCamillo
Age: 60
Born: 1964
Born: March 25
Novelist
Writer
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
Katrina Elizabeth DiCamillo
Generally
Great
Adults
Writing
Tell
Thing
Kids
Think
Give
Thinking
Anything
Might
Sends
Recognized
Giving

More quotes by Kate DiCamillo

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Love is ridiculous. But love is also wonderful. And powerful. And Despereaux's love for the Princess Pea would prove, in time, to be all of these things: powerful, wonderful, and ridiculous.
Kate DiCamillo
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The words, I have a dog named Winn-Dixie, popped into my head in the voice of a small girl with a southern accent. I'd been writing long enough at that point to know not to ignore that kind of red flag. The next day, I put aside what I'd been working on, started with that one sentence, and followed it all the way to the end.
Kate DiCamillo
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Besides, who ever asked you what you wanted in this world, girl? The answer to that question, reader, as you well know, was absolutely no one.
Kate DiCamillo
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Understand, I had absolutely no interest in writing I wanted to be a Writer.
Kate DiCamillo
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I was visiting my mother in Florida when the September 11, 2001 attacks happened. I was working on The Tale of Despereaux at that point. I had already gone into writing it with a great deal of trepidation and fear, and then this God-awful thing happens and it was really hard to even get back home to Minneapolis.
Kate DiCamillo
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In The Tale of Despereaux, there is a lot of darkness, a lot of despair. There's also a lot of light, redemption, hope. There's forgiveness, there's friendship, there's love. But the world in all of its potential craziness is also there.
Kate DiCamillo
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If you have no intention of loving or being loved, the whole journey is pointless.
Kate DiCamillo
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If there is anything that I think I might use later, I underline it.
Kate DiCamillo
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Mercy Watson is obsessed with toast. What was blocking me was the challenge of trying to understand what she loves, what motivates her. That was the missing piece. Toast became the physical symbol of Mercy's hopefully endearing greed and obsession. Without that element in place, it didn't make sense.
Kate DiCamillo
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Take this squirrel, for instance. Ulysses. Do I believe he can type poetry? Sure, I do believe it. There is much more beauty in the world if I believe such a thing is possible.
Kate DiCamillo
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Did you think that rats do not have hearts? Wrong. All living things have a heart. And the heart of any living thing can be broken.
Kate DiCamillo
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The Tale of Despereaux is the story of an unlikely hero, a mouse, who falls in love with a princess and then must save her. It's a triumph of the human spirit, via a mouse.
Kate DiCamillo
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The closest I can get to describing what happens is that voices come to me. I feel like I'm accessing something that is deeper and richer than me.
Kate DiCamillo
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In my stories for children, I sometimes show a hard, harsh, dangerous world. I'm going to show you the way it is, but I'm going to also tell you that there's every reason to hope.
Kate DiCamillo
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The way we started was, Alison [McGhee] said, 'Tall girl, short girl.' We had no plans beyond that.
Kate DiCamillo
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I thought I was going nowhere. Now I can see there was a pattern.
Kate DiCamillo
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We appreciate the complicated and wonderful gifts you give us in each other. And we appreciate the task you put down before us, of loving each other the best we can, even as you love us.
Kate DiCamillo
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I have a Bachelor of Arts in English, which means I had a lot of formal training in reading.
Kate DiCamillo
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Reading is my passion.
Kate DiCamillo
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I've never worked with a co-author before [Alison McGhee]. Writing for me is a pretty scary thing, so it was a huge comfort to have someone in the room working with me. It became less like work and more like play.
Kate DiCamillo