Children's author

shares inspiration

for her books

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Kate DiCamillo confessed the truth about her books Thursday afternoon to a group of 400 local school children.

It came out during a question-and-answer session at Martin Luther College amid a sea of anxious hands.

The voice of Opal, the 10-year old protagonist in "Because of Winn-Dixie" was inside her head, and so she wrote Opal's story. The book won a Newbery Honor in 2000. Newbery awards, which are given by the American Library Association, honor excellence in children's fiction.

And Rob Horton, the main character in "The Tiger Rising," wouldn't go away after she included him in a yet-unpublished story.

And her mother called, saying there was so much rain in DiCamillo's home state of Florida that a tiger escaped from its cage at a local zoo. So she wrote a story, in which Rob finds an escaped tiger in the woods. The discovery triggers all sorts of magic in Rob's life.

DiCamillo visited New Ulm and Sleepy Eye Thursday. She spoke to college students as well as elementary students.

Practically every kid in the MLC auditorium had read "Because of Winn-Dixie" and a slightly smaller number professed finishing "The Tiger Rising."

DiCamillo, 38, realized she wanted to be an author but did nothing about her desire until she was 29.

Born in Philadelphia, she grew up in Clermont, Fla. She graduated with a degree in English from the University of Florida in Gainesville. Her college professors encouraged her to write, saying she had a way with words.

She worked odd jobs until a friend convinced her to move to Minnesota in 1994.

Her lucky break happened while working for a book warehouse in Minneapolis. It was there that she got to know a lot of the sales representatives from several publishing companies.

She gave the "Winn-Dixie" manuscript to a representative of Candlewick Press, who managed to find her an editor. "

"Because of Winn-Dixie" appeared in Minneapolis in 2000. It earned DiCamillo a word-of-mouth reputation in the Twin Cities.

Then the Newbery representatives called.

"I said 'Oh my God' about three times and 'Thank you' three times. Then they hung up," she said. "I thought they decided to give (the award) to someone else."

Receiving the Newbery Honor brought her far-reaching recognition.

"I realized it was bigger than Minneapolis being nice to me," she said.

The story of "Because of Winn-Dixie" involves a girl who learns 10 things about her long-gone mother from her preacher father because of a dog named Winn-Dixie. The girl, Opal, starts to make friends in a new place and also finds her place in the world as she reconciles the loss of her mother.

"I didn't know what I was doing at the time, but now I've realized I was homesick," DiCamillo explained about the process of writing the book.

DiCamillo's wrote the book during her first winter in Minnesota. She was thinking about walking on a sandy beach instead of a snowy sidewalk. She told her young audience at MLC that she wrote a story about a dog simply because she couldn't have one in her apartment.

"I wanted to go home," she said. "I wanted a dog, and can you guess what I did? I made one up."

The characters in her books come from places that DiCamillo says she isn't aware of. She feels like they already exist and like she's at their mercy.

"It's a mystery I don't totally understand," she explained.

Ideas for stories are free for the taking, DiCamillo said. If she ever runs out of ideas, she gets on a city bus and suddenly she can't get enough stories to tell.

The key, she said, is paying close attention to people when they talk. DiCamillo admits to sitting in coffee houses and jotting down parts of things she overhears.

She carries a notepad with her wherever she goes because Rob or Opal can strike at any time.