Kate DiCamillo will be inaugurated the 2014–2015 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature in a ceremony at the Library of Congress on January 10. Winner of the Newbery Medal in 2004 for The Tale of Despereaux and numerous other literary honors, DiCamillo has chosen “Stories Connect Us” as her ambassadorial theme.
“I’m feeling overwhelmed by this honor because I want to do a good job,” the Minnesota author said in the January 2 St. Paul Pioneer Press.
DiCamillo, whose works include the acclaimed Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tiger Rising, and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, succeeds Walter Dean Myers. Like him, she will conduct monthly programs at libraries, schools, and other venues nationwide as selected by the Children’s Book Council. “Talking about how reading brings us together is easy for me,” DiCamillo told the Pioneer Press. “This happens in a lot of ways; one-on-one when a parent reads to a child or a child reads to a parent, when a teacher or librarian reads to groups, or when larger communities read together. It’s a way for us to see each other.”
Read more about the ambassador program here.
