In the world of children’s authors, Kate DiCamillo is a certified rock star.
Beloved by young readers, parents and teachers, DiCamillo’s award-winning books — such as “Because of Winn-Dixie,” “The Tale of Despereaux” and “Flora & Ulysses” — are often used in conjunction with elementary school lessons.
During a visit to Book Con at Javits Center in June, DiCamillo was praised by other authors as an inspiration while she paused to take questions and pose for photos with a steady stream of admirers of all ages.
“Anybody who puts a book in my hands is my hero,” she said during a panel discussion with authors Shannon Hale, Meg Medina, T.R. Simon and Jessica Spotswood about strong girls in children’s literature.
DiCamillo said her mother, teachers and librarians at her local library helped her find books that kept her excited and interested in reading.
The Newbery Medal-winning author is also a strong advocate for summer reading. Experts say children who don’t read during summer vacation lose some of the vital skills they build during the school year.
New York City’s three library systems have summer reading programs (summerreading.org) with special programming, activities and suggested reading lists.
After the panel, amNewYork asked DiCamillo for some summer reading suggestions. Not surprisingly, she pointed to books written by fellow panelists.
But she also looked back to some classics she enjoyed as a young reader.
“Zora and Me” by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon fictionalizes the childhood of influential African-American writer and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. In the coming-of-age book, Zora is a lively tween storyteller who bands together with her friends Carrie and Teddy to solve a mystery in Florida in the early 1900s. A follow-up book, “Zora and Me: The Cursed Ground,” comes out in September 2018.
“Merci Suarez Changes Gears” by Meg Medina follows the story of a sixth-grader as she deals with changes at home and at school. (Comes out in September 2018.)
“Harriet the Spy” by Louise Fitzhugh: The 1964 book was groundbreaking in how it portrayed children. Harriet, an 11-year-old, lives on the Upper East Side and carries a journal where she writes observations and thoughts about her friends and people she “spies on” in her neighborhood. An uncomfortable day of reckoning comes when her “spy book” falls into the wrong hands. Many writers, including DiCamillo, said they were inspired by the novel.
“I really did see it as an instructional manual even though I didn’t understand it at the time,” she told amNewYork. “That’s what I was doing. (The book) is always wonderful.”
“The Borrowers” by Mary Norton: Set in England, the series of fantasy books recounts the adventures of the Clock Family, tiny people who secretly live under a clock and in the walls of a house. The sneak out to “borrow” provisions.
‘“The Borrowers’ are old, but still new,” said DiCamillo. “That’s good summer reading right there.”
