>> Announcer 1: From the Library
of Congress in Washington, DC.
>> Announcer 2: Welcome Kate
the great, otherwise known
as Kate DeCamillo to the stage.
[ Applause ]
>> Kate: How are y'all doing?
I have a speech, but a speech
always makes me feel kind
of like I'm lecturing
people, and what I love
to do is to talk with y'all.
So a couple of years ago I came
to the National Book Festival,
and I threatened everybody
with a speech, and then I said,
"How many of y'all want
to hear the speech?"
And like two hands went up, and
so I'm going to do that again.
How many people want
to hear the speech?
Well, that's better than two.
It makes me feel a
little bit better,
and how many-we don't have a ton
of time, so how many people would
like to do a Q&A, which--
and who has questions?
The other thing that we
can do in our short amount
of time is I can read to y'all,
and I don't do-[applause] Yeah,
so that would be kind of fun.
The only thing is I would need
to borrow somebody's book.
So, oh, what have you got?
You want to do "Raymie Nightingale?"
Has anybody read "Raymie
Nightingale?"
You have. That's good.
Okay, I'm going to borrow your book.
Thank you very much.
What's your name?
>> Riley: Riley.
>> Kate: Riley.
Is it R-i-l-e-y?
>> Riley: Yes.
>> Kate: Thank you, Riley.
I'll give it back probably.
So "Raymie Nightingale" is my most
recent novel, and it takes place
in central Florida in the mid-70s,
and I grew up in central Florida
in the mid-70s, and when I was doing
all the pre-publicity before this
book came out, one of the very
first interviews that I did,
the person said, "So
this is, it's mid-70s.
So it's historical fiction, right?"
And I'm like, "Yeah, I guess
it is historical fiction."
So I'm going to read
to you from a book
of historical fiction,
and this is Chapter 1.
"There were three of
them, three girls.
They were standing side by side.
They were standing at attention.
And then the girl in the pink dress,
the one who was standing right next
to Raymie, let out a sob
and said, 'The more I think
about it, the more terrified I am.
I'm too terrified to go on.'
The girl clutched her baton to her
chest and dropped to her knees.
Raymie stared at her in
wonder and admiration.
She herself often felt
too terrified to go on,
but she had never admitted
it out loud.
The girl in the pink dress
moaned and toppled over sideways.
Her eyes fluttered closed.
She was silent.
And then she opened
her eyes very wide
and shouted, 'Archie, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry I betrayed you.'
She closed her eyes again.
Her mouth fell open.
Raymie had never seen or
heard anything like it.
'I'm sorry,' Raymie whispered.
'I betrayed you.'
For some reason, the words
seemed worth repeating.
'Stop this nonsense
immediately,' said Ida Nee.
Ida Nee was the baton-twirling
instructor.
Even though she was old-over fifty
at least-her hair was an
extremely bright yellow.
She wore white boots that came
all the way up to her knees.
'I'm not kidding,' said Ida Nee.
Raymie believed her.
Ida Nee didn't seem
like much of a kidder.
The sun was way, way up in the
sky, and the whole thing was
like high noon in a Western.
But it was not a Western; it
was baton-twirling lessons
at Ida Nee's house in
Ida Nee's backyard.
It was the summer of 1975.
It was the fifth day of June.
And two days before, on
the third day of June,
Raymie Clark's father had run
away from home with a woman
who was a dental hygienist.
Hey, diddle, diddle, the
dish ran away with the spoon.
Those were the words that went
through Raymie's head every time
she thought about her father
and the dental hygienist.
But she did not say the
words out loud anymore
because Raymie's mother was very
upset, and talking about dishes
and spoons running away
together was not appropriate.
It was actually a great
tragedy, what had happened.
That was what Raymie's mother said.
'This is a great tragedy,'
said Raymie's mother.
'Quit reciting nursery rhymes.'
It was a great tragedy
because Raymie's father
had disgraced himself.
It was also a great tragedy
because Raymie was now fatherless.
The thought of that-the fact
of it-that she, Raymie Clarke,
was without a father, made
a small, sharp pain shoot
through Raymie's heart every
time she considered it.
Sometimes the pain in her heart hade
her feel too terrified to go on.
Sometimes it made her
want to drop to her knees.
But then she would remember
that she had a plan."
I'm going to read you
about the plan.
Chapter Two.
"'Get up,' said Ida Nee to
the girl in the pink dress.
'She fainted,' said the
other baton-twirling student,
a girl named Beverly Tapinski,
whose father was a cop.
Raymie knew the girl's name
and what her father did
because Beverly had
made an announcement
at the beginning of the lesson.
She stared straight ahead, not
looking at anybody in particular,
and said, 'My name is Beverly
Tapinski and my father is a cop,
so I don't think that
you should mess with me.'
Raymie, for one, had no
intention of messing with her.
'I've seen a lot of people
faint,' said Beverly now.
'That's what happens when
you're the daughter of a cop.
You see everything.
You see it all.'
'Shut up, Tapinski,' said Ida Nee.
The sun was very high in the sky.
It hadn't moved.
It seemed like someone
had stuck it up there
and then walked away and left it.
'I'm sorry,' whispered Raymie.
'I betrayed you.'
Beverly Tapinski knelt down and
put her hands on either side
of the fainting girl's face.
'What do you think you're doing?'
said Ida Nee.
The pine trees above them
swayed back and forth.
The lake, Lake Clara-where someone
named Clara Wingtip had managed
to drown herself a hundred
years ago-gleamed and glittered.
The lake looked hungry.
Maybe it was hoping for
another Clara Wingtip.
Raymie felt a wave of despair.
There wasn't time for
people fainting.
She had to learn how to twirl a
baton, and she had to learn fast
because if she learned
how to twirl a baton,
then she stood a good chance
Little Miss Central Florida Tire,
and if she became Little
Miss Central Florida Tire,
her father would see her picture
in the paper and come home.
That was Raymie's plan."
Riley, thank you for
letting me borrow
that [applause] very, very much.
I appreciate that.
I'm going to forward here.
Who-does anybody have a copy
of "Because of Winn Dixie,"
which is the first
book that I wrote?
[Inaudible] That's your favorite.
What if I just, it's kind of
like a way to bookend things.
That was the most recent
book I wrote was "Raymie,
and the first one was
"Because of Winn Dixie."
What if we read the first chapter
of "Because of Winn Dixie?"
Yeah, so can I borrow
somebody's book again?
I was talking to a group of
first graders not that long ago,
and I got into an argument with one
of the first graders about something
that happened in this book.
Thank you.
What's your name?
[Inaudible] Thank you.
And I was wrong, and this
first grader was right.
So all of which is to say I don't
remember it as well as I should.
This book came out in 2000, and
I was working at a bookstore
when it was published, and
before that I had worked
at a book warehouse, and so
I had a very realistic goal
for what would happen
with a middle grade novel
from a first time novelist.
I thought if I'm really,
really lucky,
5000 copies of this book will
sell, which will then let me earn
out my advance and maybe I'll be
luck enough to write another book,
and whatever didn't sell I
hoped would be like remaindered
in Guatemala where I wouldn't
have to see it every day at work,
you know, and so what has
happened with "Because
of Winn Dixie" defied the
biggest dreams I'd have ever had
in the world, and so many of
you I know know this book.
So I just want to say thank you
because this book was passed
from hand to hand, and all of
y'all let me get to stand up here
and do this, and it's like
the best job in the world.
So-[applause].
Okay, Chapter 1.
"My name is India Opal Buloni, and
last summer my daddy, the preacher,
sent me to the store for a
box of macaroni-and-cheese,
some white rice, and two tomatoes
and I came back with a dog.
This is what happened: I
walked into the produce section
of the Winn-Dixie grocery store
to pick out my two tomatoes
and I almost bumped right
into the store manager.
He was standing there
all red-faced, screaming
and waving his arms around.
'Who let a dog in here?'
he kept on shouting.
'Who let a dirty dog in here?'
At first, I didn't see a dog.
There were just a lot of vegetables
rolling around on the floor,
tomatoes and onions
and green peppers.
And there was what
seemed like a whole army
of Winn-Dixie employees running
around waving their arms just the
same way the store manager was
waving his.
And then the dog came
running around the corner.
He was a big dog.
And ugly. And he looked like
he was having a real good time.
His tongue was hanging out
and he was wagging his tail.
He skidded to a stop
and smiled right at me.
I had never before in my life seen a
dog smile, but that is what he did.
He pulled back his lips and
showed me all his teeth.
Then he wagged his tail so hard
that he knocked some
oranges off a display,
and they went rolling everywhere,
mixing in with the tomatoes
and onions and green peppers.
The manager screamed,
'Somebody grab that dog.'
The dog went running
over to the manager,
wagging his tail and smiling.
He stood up on his hind legs.
You could tell that all he
wanted to do was get face to face
with the manager and thank him
for the good time he was having
in the produce department,
but somehow he ended
up knocking the manager over.
And the manager must have
been having a bad day,
because lying there on
the floor, right in front
of everybody, he started to cry.
The dog leaned over him, real
concerned, and licked his face.
'Please,' said the manager.
'Somebody call the pound.'
'Wait a minute,' I hollered.
'That's my dog.
Don't call the pound.'
All the Winn-Dixie employees
turned around and looked at me,
and I knew I had done something big.
And maybe stupid, too.
But I couldn't help it.
I couldn't let that
dog to go the pound.
'Here, boy,' I said.
The dog stopped licking the
manager's face and put his ears
up in the air and looked
at me, like he was trying
to remember where he knew me from.
'Here, boy,' I said again.
And then I figured that the dog was
probably just like everybody else
in the world, that he would
want to get called by a name,
only I didn't know
what his name was,
so I just said the first
thing that came into my head.
I said, 'Here, Winn-Dixie.'
And that dog came trotting
over to me just
like he had been doing
it, his whole life.
The manager sat up and
gave me a hard stare,
like maybe I was making fun of him.
'It's his name,' I said.
Honest.' The manager
said, 'Don't you know not
to bring a dog into
a grocery store?'
'Yes, sir,' I told him.
'He got in by mistake.
I'm sorry.
It won't happen again.'
'Come on, Winn Dixie,'
I said to the dog.
I started walking and he
followed along behind me as I went
out of the produce department
and found the cereal aisle
and passed all the
cashiers out the door.
Once we were safe outside, I
checked him over real careful
and he didn't look that good.
He was big but skinny.
You could see his ribs, and
there were bald patches all
over him-places where he
didn't have any fur at all.
Mostly he looked like a big
piece of old brown carpet
that had been left out in the rain.
'You're a mess,' I told him.
'I bet you don't belong to anybody.'
He smiled at me.
He did that thing again
where he pulled back his lips
and showed me his teeth.
He smiled so big that
it made him sneeze.
It was like he was saying,
'I know I am a mess.
Isn't it funny?'
It's hard not to immediately
fall in love with a dog
who has a good sense of humor.
'Come on,' I told him.
'Let's see what the preacher
has to say about you.
And the two of us, me and Winn
Dixie, started walking home."
[Applause] Where are you?
You're a very helpful person.
Thank you.
Okay, who's going to
ask me questions?
Thank you so much.
Yes. [Inaudible] What inspired me
to write "Because of Winn Dixie?"
So I grew up in central Florida,
and when I was 30 years old I moved
to Minneapolis, Minnesota,
and do you know kind
of like what winters are like
in Minneapolis, Minnesota?
Any idea? The second winter that
I was there, the high temperature
for three days in a row
was 37 degrees below zero.
So if you're a girl who
grew up in central Florida
and it's 37 degrees below zero,
where would you like to be?
Well, in the library, yes,
but I wanted to go home.
I wanted to go back to Florida.
I could not afford to go back home,
but I could write a book
that would take me home.
Also it was the first time in my
life that I'd been without a dog,
and I was experiencing
what I call dog withdrawal.
So like if I was in a car and there
was a dog in the car next to me,
I would beep my horn
and wave at the dog.
I couldn't have a dog in the
apartment where I was living,
so I just made up the best
dog that I could think of,
and that was Winn Dixie, and so
that's where the book came from,
although I didn't know at the time
that I just knew that I needed a dog
and I knew I wanted to go
home, so those two things.
So, should we move to the mikes now?
Do you want to do that?
Yes.
>> Audience: What inspired Ulysses
to be sucked up by a vacuum?
>> Kate: [Laughter] So "Flora
and Ulysses" is-anybody
know that book, the story?
Oh, [applause] that's great.
Okay, so it's the story
of a girl and a squirrel
and also a vacuum cleaner.
So where do did the inspiration to
get-because the squirrel was sucked
up into a vacuum cleaner
and turned into a superhero.
It's a true story.
So where did I get the inspiration?
This is-unfortunately there's
no fast way to do this,
but I'll try to do it quickly.
My mother passed away in 2009,
and she had a vacuum cleaner,
an Electrolux vacuum cleaner, that
she thought was the best thing
in the world, and in the last
year of her life, she would turn
to me periodically and say,
"What's going to happen
to the vacuum cleaner
when I'm gone?"
And I would always say, "I'll
take the vacuum cleaner.
Don't worry about the
vacuum cleaner."
So my mom passed away.
I did as I promised.
I took the vacuum cleaner,
but my mom had a cat,
the world's most evil cat named
Mildew, and I am allergic to cats,
and so when I got the
vacuum cleaner,
it was filled with Mildew hair,
and so I couldn't bring it
into the house, and I put it in
the garage, and every time I pulled
into the garage, there
was the vacuum cleaner,
and it made my heart hurt.
It made me miss my mother.
So the spring after my mother
died there was a squirrel who was
on the front steps of my house
who was clearly in some distress,
and I didn't know what
to do for him.
He was draped dramatically over
the steps, and he wouldn't move
when I got close to him, but he was
still breathing, and I called one
of my best friends who lives a
block and a half away from me,
and who's asked me to never say
her name when I tell this story,
but she really truly is the kindest
and gentlest of all my friends,
but when I called her and said
"There's a squirrel
dying on my front steps.
What should I do?"
Carla said, "Do you have a shovel?"
And I said, "Sure I have a shovel."
She said, "Get an old t-shirt.
Get the shovel.
I will come over there and
whack him over the head."
[Laughter] That's what she said.
I was on the cell phone.
I was very close to the squirrel.
I didn't want him to
overhear the bloody words
that she had just spoken,
so I'm like backing
up away from the squirrel.
I go in the side door,
look out the front door.
Guess what?
The squirrel's gone.
He's like, "Oh, no, not me.
I'll find a different way to die."
And so, but the whole incident made
me think about an E. B. White essay,
"The Death of a Pig," and E.
B. White said when he wrote
"Charlotte's Web" he was thinking
about ways to save a pig's life.
So I started to think about ways
to save the squirrel's life,
and I combined it with
that vacuum cleaner,
and not only did I save
the squirrel's life,
but I had the squirrel sucked up
into the vacuum cleaner and turned
into a superhero who
could write poetry,
and that's where that came from.
So, whew. [Applause] I wish
it were shorter, but it's not.
Okay, over here, please.
>> Audience: Where did-how
did you get the inspiration
for the title "Raymie Nightingale?"
>> Kate: Where did I
get the inspiration
for the title "Raymie Nightingale?"
Well, I don't want to totally say
it because it gives away something
that happens at the very end of the
book where Raymie does something
that she didn't think
that she could do,
and so it's like the title
is a combination-it kind
of like captures the idea of that
thing that there's something.
There's a power inside all of
us that we don't know is there,
and so that's what I
wanted in the title.
Did you have some thoughts
on the title?
>> Audience: I think it
was a really good title.
>> Kate: That's exactly the
kind of thought I love to hear.
[Laughter] Yes.
That's great.
Thank you.
Okay, yes.
>> Audience: In "Because of
Winn Dixie," that mike's on?
>> Kate: You're good.
Yeah. It just makes you sound
powerful like the Wizard of Oz.
Yes.
>> Audience: In "Because of
Winn Dixie," there's this candy
that makes people sad, and
that part almost made me cry,
but is that an actual candy?
>> Kate: So in "Because of Winn
Dixie," there's the litmus lozenges
that make you feel kind of sad and
happy at the same time-melancholy.
Do they actually exist?
They do not, and I would like
you to imagine the last person
that I talked to in line
at a bookstore in Michigan
who was the parent of a child who
was doing a report on "Because
of Winn Dixie," and
she was like "I need
to find these candies immediately
for this child's report"
and is like, "Where are they?"
And it's like, "They don't exist,"
and she was not happy with me,
but that's the great thing
about writing stories is
that you can-anything can happen.
You can make things up.
Yes.
>> Audience: So we're together.
>> Kate: Okay, and is
it one question or two?
>> Audience: Yeah.
>> Kate: Yes, okay.
[Laughter]
>> Audience: So we really
like reading "Winn Dixie."
>> Audience: Yeah,
and we were wondering
which one did you have
the most fun writing?
>> Kate: Oh, that's a good question.
So they really like
reading "Winn Dixie."
Which one did I have
the most fun writing?
Can I tell you something?
>> Audience: Yeah.
>> Kate: Writing is so hard for me.
The word "fun" is not really
appended to it ever for me.
There's a great writer, Dorothy
Parker, who said, "I hate writing.
I love having written."
Does that make sense to you?
So it's always like I always kind
of have to force myself to do it.
I'm always kind of
afraid, and I don't-a lot
of times I don't know how the
story is going to work out.
Usually I don't, but probably
the easiest one for me
to write was a book called
"The Miraculous Journey
of Edward Tulane."
So raise your hand if you know that.
That's great, and that book kind of
wrote itself, and I did it-usually
when I write a novel,
it's eight or nine drafts.
I did that one in four drafts.
It just wrote itself.
Adults, y'all can ask
questions, too.
You don't have to-yes.
>> Audience: What inspired "Flora?"
>> Kate: What inspired "Flora?"
Well I have to say-so,
Flora in "Flora
and Ulysses" is a comic
book reading cynical child,
and I loved to read
everything including comic books
when I was a kid and still as
an adult, and I am what a friend
of mine once called
me a perky curmudgeon.
So I think that that
cynicism of Flora's is mine,
but there's a wonderful
saying about cynics.
You scratch the surface,
and you find a romantic
underneath of a cynic.
So, yes.
>> Audience: Um.
>> Kate: Don't panic.
>> Audience: How did you get the
idea for "Tale of Despereaux?"
>> Kate: "Tale of Despereaux?"
So raise your hand if you know
the story of a mouse who--
You guys are a well-read crowd.
I tell you what.
So where did the idea come
from for "Tale of Despereaux?"
So I had written "Because of
Winn Dixie," and as I said,
what happened with that
book surprised me mightily,
and it had just been published, and
there it was-a book with my name
on the spine and on the cover
and went to see my best friend.
She was living in Saint Louis
at the time, and her son,
his name is Luke Bailey, he was
eight years old, a huge reader.
He had never been impressed with
me before, but all of a sudden,
here I was with my name on a book.
So everywhere I went that
visit, Luke followed me around,
and at the end of the visit he asked
if he could have a private
word with me in his room.
So we went into his room,
and I sat down, and he said,
"I've got an excellent idea for a
book," and I said, "What is it?"
He said, "It's the story
of an unlikely hero
with exceptionally large ears," and
I said, "What happens to the hero?"
and he said, "I don't know.
That's why I want you
to write the book."
And so, he didn't say a mouse,
but I thought a mouse was the most
unlikely hero I could think of,
and by the time the book was
published and then won the Newberry,
Luke was 14-years-old, and I
made him come to this banquet
where they present the award.
It's 1000 librarians.
It's fabulous.
I made Luke come to that
during wearing a tie.
I made him stand up in front of all
those people, and everybody said,
"Oh, you must be so
proud and excited,
Luke," and he was 14-years-old.
So, not really, but he's
a history teacher now,
and he's working on a novel.
So, yeah. Luke Bailey.
Yes. I only have two minutes.
Okay, yes, over here.
Yes.
>> Audience: What was your
favorite book as a kid?
>> Kate: My favorite book as a kid?
One favorite book?
Wait, y'all have to answer it.
What's your favorite book?
>> Audience: Ah.
>> Kate: See?
[Laughter] Imagine like
standing up on a stage
and having somebody ask
you something like that?
It's like-can you do it?
>> Audience: "Because
of Winn Dixie."
>> Kate: Well, that's a very,
very diplomatically
brilliant answer I would say.
Yeah. And you?
>> Audience: Harry Potter.
>> Kate: Harry Potter is
a very good answer, too.
I can never pick just
one favorite book, ever,
not as an adult, not as a kid.
I loved to read as a kid.
I love to read as an adult.
If you force me, I will
say "Charlotte's Web"
by E. B. White even though I didn't
read it as a kid because I read
"Black Beauty" as a kid, and
after that I would never check
out another book with an animal
on the cover, and I would look
at Wilbur's face in the
spin rack at the library
and think, "Oh, no, not me.
Something terrible is going
to happen to that pig."
So I didn't read it until I
was an adult, but to my mind,
that is one of the most
perfect books ever written.
How many of y'all have
read "Charlotte's Web?"
[Applause] Yeah, how many
teachers in the audience?
How many of you teachers
read out loud
to your kids during-Can
we have a round
of applause for-[Applause] Oops,
I cannot-I cannot tell
you-Oh, wrap it up.
I've got to wrap it up.
I cannot tell you how
much that matters.
I was a kid who grew up in a house
filled with books with a mother
who read to me, bought me
books, took me to the library.
I lived for Mrs. Boyette
to read aloud for me,
and every day after lunch,
"Island of the Blue Dolphins,"
I will never forget it.
You're changing lives
when you read out loud.
Thank you all for being here.
Thank you for believing
in the power of stories.
I'm so grateful.
Thank you.
[Applause]
>> Announcer: This has
been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at loc.gov.