Novels
- Because of Winn-Dixie (Somerville (MA): Candlewick Press, 2000)
- The Tiger Rising (Somerville (MA): Candlewick Press, 2001)
- The Tale of Despereaux (Somerville (MA): Candlewick Press, 2003), illus. Timothy Basil Ering
- The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (Somerville (MA): Candlewick Press, 2006), illus. Bagram Ibatoulline
- The Magician’s Elephant (Somerville (MA): Candlewick Press, 2009), illus. Yoko Tanaka
- Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures (Somerville (MA): Candlewick Press, 2013), illus. K. G. Campbell
- Raymie Nightingale (Somerville (MA): Candlewick Press, 2016)
- Louisiana’s way home (Somerville (MA): Candlewick Press, 2018)
- Beverly, right here (Somerville (MA): Candlewick Press, 2019)
Chapter books
- Bink & Gollie series, text by DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illus. Tony Fucile
- Mercy Watson series (Candlewick Press), text by DiCamillo, illus. Chris Van Dusen
- Tales from Deckawoo Drive series, text by DiCamillo, illus. Chris Van Dusen
- Leroy Ninker Saddles Up: Tales from Deckawoo Drive, Volume One (2014)
- Francine Poulet Meets the Ghost Raccoon: Tales from Deckawoo Drive, Volume Two (2015)
- Where Are You Going, Baby Lincoln?: Tales from Deckawoo Drive, Volume Three (2016)
- Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package: Tales from Deckawoo Drive, Volume Four (2017)
Picture books
- Great Joy (2007), illus. Bagram Ibatoulline
- Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken (2008), illus. Harry Bliss
- A Piglet Named Mercy (2019), illus. Chris Van Dusen
Short stories
- “An Ordinary Boy”, in Spider magazine for children (vol. 8, issue 9, September 2001)
- “Super Tulip”, Spider (vol. 8, issue 9, September 2001)
- “Visit”, Spider (vol. 9, issue 1, January 2002)
- “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)
Kate DiCamillo, in full Katrina Elizabeth DiCamillo, (born March 25, 1964, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.), American author whose award-winning children’s books commonly confronted themes of death, separation, and loss but whose plots and prose were often exuberant and assured. She won a Newbery Medal in 2004 for The Tale of Despereaux (2003) and another in 2014 for Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures (2013).
As a child DiCamillo suffered from chronic pneumonia, a condition that prompted her mother, a teacher, and older brother to move with her to Florida when she was five. Though her father, an orthodontist, was scheduled to follow the family in due course, he never did. DiCamillo credited her sickly childhood with having shaped her as a writer, since she spent time alone in her bed imagining and observing. She majored in English at the University of Florida at Gainesville (B.A., 1987) and then took on various short-term jobs. In 1994 she moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she worked in a book warehouse and became drawn to children’s fiction. Her first novel, Because of Winn-Dixie (2000; film 2005), was published after a young editor spotted it in the “slush pile,” a publishing house’s collection of manuscripts sent unsolicited by aspiring authors. The novel—which relates the story of 10-year-old Opal, a girl made lonely by the loss of her mother and her arrival in a new town, and the mangy dog she finds in a supermarket—was praised for its gentle humour, the clarity of its writing, and the endearing nature of its young protagonist.
In DiCamillo’s second novel, Tiger Rising (2001), she again explored the life of a child beset by the loss of a parent. In it, two friends discover in the woods a caged tiger, and DiCamillo interspersed lines from William Blake’s “The Tyger” to help drive the narrative. The award-winning The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread (2003; film 2008), DiCamillo’s third novel, is the story of a nonconformist mouse who falls in love with the princess of the castle in which his family lives. Her other novels included The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (2006), which features a conceited china rabbit that learns how to love through tragedy, and The Magician’s Elephant (2009), about an orphan whose quest to find his missing sister involves an elephant. Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures (2013), which concerned the adventures of a cynical young comic-book lover and a squirrel endowed with human abilities, won the 2014 Newbery Medal. DiCamillo also drew praise for Raymie Nightingale (2016), which centres on a young girl who, in an effort to get her adulterous father to return home, hopes to win the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition. Other characters in the book included Louisiana Elefante, whose struggles after moving away from her friends were chronicled in Louisiana’s Way Home (2018), and Beverly, who finds herself after leaving home in Beverly, Right Here (2019).
In addition to her novels, DiCamillo also wrote several successful series of chapter books. The first series began with Mercy Watson to the Rescue (2005) and follows the adventures of the exuberant toast-loving pig Mercy Watson. Later books in the series include Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride (2006), Mercy Watson Fights Crime (2006), Mercy Watson: Princess in Disguise (2007), Mercy Watson Thinks like a Pig (2008), and Mercy Watson: Something Wonky This Way Comes (2009). Characters from these works later appeared in the Tales from Deckawoo Lane series, which included Leroy Ninker Saddles Up (2014) and Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package (2017). DiCamillo also published picture books, including La La La (2017).
DiCamillo was named to a two-year term as the national ambassador for young people’s literature by the Library of Congress in 2014.
REFERENCE:https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kate-DiCamillo
