Bink y Gollie

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.

With three critically acclaimed adult novels under her belt—Shadow Baby (a Today Show Book Club selection), Rainlight, and Was It Beautful?—Alison McGhee was ready to turn her attention to the world of children’s literature. “First I wrote a picture book, which took me years and nearly unhinged me, because it was so difficult to do well,” says the adventurous author. “Then the idea of writing a children’s novel appealed to me.” The result was Snap, a gracefully told story about a sensitive girl who comes to terms with loss—and learns something about lasting ties. About her inspiration for Snap, Alison McGhee says, “Recently I went through a rubber band phase, in which I wore several on my wrist at all times and snapped them in an effort to retrain myself out of a couple of bad habits. Sadly, the bad habits remained, but happily, Snap was born.” Alison McGhee’s first young adult novel, All Rivers Flow to The Sea, is the poetically told story of a teenager overwhelmed by trauma and loss yet steadied by loyal friendships and, finally, the solace of first love. In writing her first novels for younger readers, Alison McGhee had to modify some of her usual methods, but there is at least one way in which Snap and All Rivers Flow to The Sea build on her adult books. “Thus far, the setting for all my novels—those for adults and those for children—has been the area where I grew up,” she notes. “Characters from all my novels appear and re-appear, and it was a pleasure seeing some of the adults I had worked with in previous adult novels make an appearance in Snap.” Snap has certainly been a pleasure for readers, as well. Says Kate DiCamillo, author of The Tale of Despereaux, winner of the 2004 Newbery Medal: “Snap is a book about rubber bands and braids, green buckets and blue bicycles, fear and hope and death. Mostly though, it is a book about friendship. And doughnuts. If you read it, you will laugh and cry; and when you are done, you will find that you have the courage to ‘be strong of heart.’ There’s not much more you can ask of fiction than that.” Alison McGhee and Kate DiCamillo recently collaborated on the Bink and Gollie series of first chapter books, illustrated by Tony Fucile. The first book in the series, Bink & Gollie, is a Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Winner.
Alison McGhee is a professor of creative writing at Metropolitan State University, where she coordinates the creative writing program. She also teaches in the MFA in Writing for Children program at Vermont College. The author lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her three children.

Tony Fucile has spent more than twenty years designing and animating characters for cartoon feature films. During the first fifteen years, he put pencil to paper to help bring life to characters from The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Iron Giant. He then moved into computer animation at the studio Pixar, working on the films Wall-E, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille and The Incredibles, for which he was a supervising animator. Let’s Do Nothing! was Tony Fucile’s first book. Tony Fucile was born in San Francisco and currently resides nearby with his wife, Stacey, their two kids, Eli and Elinor, and two Chihuahuas (Pedro and Kahlua).