Kate DiCamillo is one of America’s most beloved storytellers. She is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and a two-time Newbery Medalist. Born in Philadelphia, she grew up in Florida and now lives in Minneapolis, where she faithfully writes two pages a day, five days a week.
The theme of hope and belief amid impossible circumstances is a common thread in much of Kate DiCamillo’s writing. In her instant #1 New York Times bestseller The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, a haughty china rabbit undergoes a profound transformation after finding himself facedown on the ocean floor—lost, and waiting to be found. The Tale of Despereaux—the Newbery Medal–winning novel that later inspired an animated adventure from Universal Pictures—stars a tiny mouse with exceptionally large ears who is driven by love to become an unlikely hero. And The Magician’s Elephant, an acclaimed and exquisitely paced fable, dares to ask the question, What if?
Kate DiCamillo’s own journey is something of a dream come true. After moving to Minnesota from Florida in her twenties, homesickness and a bitter winter helped inspire Because of Winn-Dixie—her first published novel, which, remarkably, became a runaway bestseller and snapped up a Newbery Honor. “After the Newbery committee called me, I spent the whole day walking into walls,” she says. “I was stunned. And very, very happy.”
Her second novel, The Tiger Rising, went on to become a National Book Award Finalist. Since then, the master storyteller has written for a wide range of ages. She is the author of six books in the Mercy Watson series of early chapter books, which stars a “porcine wonder” with an obsession for buttered toast. The second book in the series, Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride, was named a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book by the American Library Association in 2007. She is also the co-author of the Bink and Gollie series, which celebrates the tall and short of a marvelous friendship. The first book, Bink&Gollie, was awarded the Theodor Seuss Giesel Award in 2011.
She also wrote a luminous holiday picture book, Great Joy.
Her novel Flora&Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures won the 2014 Newbery Medal. It was released in fall 2013 to great acclaim, including five starred reviews, and was an instant New York Times bestseller. Flora&Ulysses is a laugh-out-loud story filled with eccentric, endearing characters and featuring an exciting new format—a novel interspersed with comic-style graphic sequences and full-page illustrations, all rendered in black and white by up-and-coming artist K. G. Campbell. It was a 2013 Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner and was chosen by Amazon, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Common Sense Media as a Best Book of the Year.
Kate DiCamillo, who was named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2014–2015, says about stories, “When we read together, we connect. Together, we see the world. Together, we see one another.” Born in Philadelphia, the author lives in Minneapolis, where she faithfully writes two pages a day, five days a week.
“I always think of illustration as a form of acting,” says Timothy Basil Ering. “Each time I approach a project I need to become the character I’m depicting. And then I have to choose the appropriate medium that will allow me to speak in that voice.”
Anyone who knows Tim Ering would agree that he himself is a character, as inimitable as any he might portray. Before landing at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena California, the author-illustrator-to-be indulged his longtime love of the sea as a boatswainsmate aboard the USS Kitty Hawk, sailing to points as far afield as Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, Sri Lanka, and Africa. And since finishing art school—where he discovered influences as far removed as Michelangelo and Dr. Seuss—the artist has approached his work with a spirit of adventure and originality that reflect his singular approach to life.
Tim Ering’s first picture book with Candlewick had its beginnings in a silly string of words he thought up to amuse himself as he meandered to favorite fishing spots on Cape Cod. Years later, at an urban garden created by schoolchildren in Pasadena, he began sketching a scarecrow. “I knew at that moment,” he says, “that Frog Belly Rat Bone had found a home.” And so sprung up the tale of a boy who finds strange, specklike treasures, and the unforgettable creature who watches over them while they grow. With its surreal artwork full of subtle tones, bursts of color, fantastical figures, and a quirky, hand-lettered text, Tim Ering’s picture book debut exudes all the whimsy of an inspired imagination.
That imagination was put to a very different challenge with 33 Snowfish, a novel by Adam Rapp for which Tim Ering created not only the haunting cover image, but also interior drawings that represent notebook sketches of a troubled teenage character. “Whenever you receive a manuscript, you have to get into character,” he says. “In this case, I also had to imagine how this character would draw, and how his drawing might change or shrink on the page according to his changing state of mind.” Tim Ering steers his range in yet another direction to explore a more classical style—with a contemporary flair—in The Tale of Despereaux,Kate DiCamillo’s first Newbery Award–winning novel. Says the illustrator, “My mother may have been a mouse in her past life, as I watched her save and help so many mice in our house while I was growing up. The illustrations I’ve done of Despereaux Tilling are, in a way, my tribute to her.”
Tim Ering’s artwork has appeared in books, magazines, theater sets, private murals, and fine art galleries. The invariably paint-splattered artist lives and works in Somerville, Massachusetts.
