A podcast interview with Kate DiCamillo on The Growing Readers Podcast, a production of The Children’s Book Review.
Are you ready to be inspired? Listen to Kate DiCamillo’s enlightening interview on The Growing Readers Podcast. She takes us on a journey into the magical world of The Puppets of Spelhorst and shares the power of storytelling.
Her childhood memories of playing with puppets are a reminder of the beauty and simplicity that can be found in our everyday lives. Her emphasis on perseverance and dedication to doing the work is a testament to the importance of following our dreams. Let Kate’s words encourage you to become the master of your own story and to focus on the beauty and magic in the world around you.
Discussion Topics:
Kate DiCamillo talks about:
- The different themes and meanings readers can take away from it
- Where the heart of the story came from, and childhood memories of playing with puppets
- The importance of being the masters of our own stories and how we are all interconnected
- How the art in the book adds to the magic and makes the tale feel timeless
- The power of storytelling to connect people and effect change
- Kids who will see themselves in The Puppets of Spelhorst
- Perseverance as a writer, including experience with rejection letters
- The importance of doing the work and sending it out into the world, using the metaphor of buying a lottery ticket
- Keeping a sense of enchantment and possibility in the world by consciously focusing on beauty and magic
Don’t miss this chance to be inspired!
Listen to the Interview
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Read the Interview
Transcription coming soon — approximately October 27, 2023.
About the Book
The Puppets of Spelhorst
Written by Kate DiCamillo
Illustrated by Julie Morstad
Ages 7+ | 160 Pages
Publisher: Candlewick | ISBN-13: 9781536216752
Publisher’s Book Summary: From master storyteller Kate DiCamillo comes an original fairy tale—with enchanting illustrations by Julie Morstad—in which five puppets confront circumstances beyond their control with patience, cunning, and high spirits.
Shut up in a trunk by a taciturn old sea captain with a secret, five friends—a king, a wolf, a girl, a boy, and an owl—bicker, boast, and comfort one another in the dark. Individually, they dream of song and light, freedom and flight, purpose and glory, but they all agree they are part of a larger story, bound each to each by chance, bonded by the heart’s mysteries. When at last their shared fate arrives, landing them on a mantel in a blue room in the home of two little girls, the truth is more astonishing than any of them could have imagined.
A beloved author of modern classics draws on her most moving themes with humor, heart, and wisdom in the first of the Norendy Tales, a projected trio of novellas linked by place and mood, each illustrated in black and white by a different virtuoso illustrator. A magical and beautifully packaged gift volume designed to be read aloud and shared, The Puppets of Spelhorst is a tale that soothes and strengthens us on our journey, leading us through whatever dark forest we find ourselves in.
Buy the Book
Show Notes
Kate DiCamillo is one of America’s most beloved storytellers. She is a former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and a two-time Newbery Medalist. Born in Philadelphia, she grew up in Florida and now lives in Minneapolis.
Resources:
For more information about Kate DiCamillo and her books, visit https://www.katedicamillo.com/.
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