A Chat with Kate Klise, part 8

This interview was conducted by Emily Brown, Children's Librarian at the Mt. Pleasant Library in Providence, for the 2010 summer reading booklet.  

Question (Emily Brown): Can you tell me how and why you wrote Regarding the Fountain?

Answer (Kate Klise):  I pounded out the first draft to Regarding the Fountain in one week when I was stranded in my little valley due to an ice storm. I didn't have anything to eat in the house other than microwave popcorn, Diet Coke, and coffee. I also had a newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. And it was in that paper that I read an article about two guys who designed fountains for a living. I wrote the first draft of Regarding the Fountain that week and faxed it to Sarah [Kate's sister, the illustrator] in the middle of the night. She didn't appreciate that part, but she was glad she picked the pages up off the floor as they fell from the fax machine.

Cumberland Public Library sets sail for the State House on June 12th

Set your Sails to visit the Cumberland Public Library craft table on June 12th. Learn the art of Japanese Paper folding, Origami,  and create a "boat" with Miss Debra!!! Cruise by and say hi!

Avast Ye!

From Victoria Antonitis, Youth Services Librarian, North Providence Union Free Library:
Avast Ye! (That's pirate speak for Hey, get a load of this!) North Providence Union Free Library looks forward to seeing you June 12th at the Statehouse for the Youth RARI Event where Miss Christine will be creating boats out of everyday items. Will they be sea worthy? Come down and find out!

Burning Questions from Rhode Island Readers

Do you have a question to ask Kate Klise? Put it here in the comments and we'll ask her to answer as many as she can when she comes to the RI State House on June 12th. Please hurry - June 12th is coming soon!

Here are a few questions from a mom who attended a Regarding the Fountain book discussion at the East Smithfield Public Library:

1.Do you know the ending of the book before you start?
2. What inspired you to write this book in letter form?
3. Is the main character based on someone you know?
4. Did you have to research the formats and styles for all of the different letters?

So, readers, what are your questions? Ask away!!

Way-Out Water Fountains at the Mt. Pleasant Library in Providence!

In honor of Kate Klise's Regarding the Fountain and Youth Reading Across Rhode Island ... 

Create a  silly, outrageous, weird, way-out water fountain at the Mt. Pleasant Library, Providence Community Library, on Wednesday, June 9th at 4:00 in the afternoon. This program is for youth ages 6 - 12.

A Chat with Kate Klise, part 7

This interview was conducted by Emily Brown, Children's Librarian at the Mt. Pleasant Library in Providence, for the 2010 summer reading booklet.  

Question (Emily Brown): Is there a special place or time when you like to write?

Answer (Kate Klise):  I live on forty acres in the Missouri Ozarks in an old farmhouse I bought when I dropped out of graduate school. It's always quiet, but mornings are especially still and lovely. Most writers like to work in the morning hours before the cranky editor inside us wakes up. We all have an inner Sister Jan who we need to silence when we're writing first drafts and trying to make sense out of chaos.

A Chat with Kate Klise, part 6

This interview was conducted by Emily Brown, Children's Librarian at the Mt. Pleasant Library in Providence, for the 2010 summer reading booklet.
  
Question (Emily Brown): What other things, besides kids books, do you like to write?

Answer (Kate Klise):  Anything and everything. Letters, email, speeches for other people. If I couldn't write books, I'd be happy writing menu copy. I just like fitting words together. William Maxwell, a writer I adore, talked about the happiness of "getting it down right." That's exactly what it is.

A Chat with Kate Klise, part 5

This interview was conducted by Emily Brown, Children's Librarian at the Mt. Pleasant Library in Providence, for the 2010 summer reading booklet.

Question (Emily Brown): When did you know you were destined to become a writer?

Answer (Kate Klise): Maybe in college, when a kind professor took the time to pull me aside and say, "Hey, you're good at this." I wish more adults would do that. It made a big difference for a professor to not only give me a good grade, but to say, "This is your thing. Run with it."

Here's a link to Kate's Top Ten Tips for Becoming a Bestselling Writer. 

Hello Mateys! East Smithfield Public Library will see you on June 12th!

The East Smithfield Public Library looks forward to seeing you at the Youth Reading Across Rhode Island Event on Saturday, June 12th. Stop by our table to create a nifty pirate hat and a parrot that you can wear on your shoulder.

ARRGGHH!! Babs Wells, Children’s Librarian

Newport Public Library Makes a Splash with Regarding the Fountain!

At the State House on Saturday, June 12th:

Visit the Newport Public Library's activity table at the June 12th kick-off event for Youth Reading Across Rhode Island. Play water-themed bean bag and ring toss games. Create a whale of a craft project.

At the Newport Public Library all summer long:

All summer long, the Newport Public Library will display a unique, large, 3-dimensional, cardboard and Mylar water fountain in the center of the Children's Department to celebrate the book Regarding the Fountain by Kate Klise. In the novel, children in a 5th grade class write to designer Florence Waters to describe the special features of the fountain of their dreams. Children at the library are encouraged to write their own letter to Florence Waters and post it on the library's fountain.

Kate Klise, how do you pronounce your name?

Click on over to Teaching Books.net to hear Kate Klise pronounce her name! She also talks about why her parents named her Catherine (spelled with a C) - - -  they were fans of this Saint:

You can also hear the illustrator, M. Sarah Klise (Kate's sister), talk about how she got her name. And, guess what? Her last name is pronounced exactly the same way as Kate's!

A Chat with Kate Klise, part 4

This interview was conducted by Emily Brown, Children's Librarian at the Mt. Pleasant Library in Providence, for the 2010 summer reading booklet.

Question (Emily Brown): What was the worst thing you ever got in trouble for at school?

Answer (Kate Klise): Well ... I led a rebellion in fourth grade when Sister Jan, the principal, decreed that chocolate milk would no longer be sold in the cafeteria. It was not an appropriate beverage, she said. I was outraged! So I started bringing chocolate powder from home in an envelope and adding it to my daily carton of milk. Naturally I was careful to drink it in such a way that produced a deep and lasting chocolate mustache, which of course led all the other fourth graders to bring chocolate powder from home to pour in their milk cartons and drink in such a way to produce chocolate mustaches, which of course made Sister Jan furious. But I could've died from happiness. I felt like Patrick Henry. Give me chocolate milk, or give me death!

A Chat with Kate Klise, part 3

This interview was conducted by Emily Brown, Children's Librarian at the Mt. Pleasant Library in Providence, for the 2010 summer reading booklet.

Question (Emily Brown): Ima Hogg? Was that what led you to start thinking up punny names for your characters?

Answer (Kate Klise): Yes! It all goes back to Ima Hogg. My dad also told me that Ima Hogg had a sister named Ura, which I've since learned is not true. But I spent a lot of time thinking about those poor Hogg sisters, wondering who would've had the harder life, Ima Hogg or Ura Hogg?

A Chat with Kate Klise, part 2

This interview was conducted by Emily Brown, Children's Librarian at the Mt. Pleasant Library in Providence, for the 2010 summer reading booklet.

Question (Emily Brown): Did you like school?

Answer (Kate Klise): I did. I had some wonderful teachers. But my best teachers were undoubtedly my parents. My mom read to us every night. And my dad told great stories about men like Mr. Hogg in Texas who named is daughter Ima. I could live for weeks on stories like that!

Note: Portrait of Miss Ima Hogg. Courtsey of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health

A Chat with Kate Klise, part 1

This interview was conducted by Emily Brown, Children's Librarian at the Mt. Pleasant Library in Providence, for the 2010 summer reading booklet.

Question (Emily Brown): Did you go to a small-town school like the one in Regarding the Fountain?

Answer (Kate Klise): I grew up in a bigger city, Peoria, Illinois, where I attended Catholic schools and spent many long hours diagramming sentences and dreaming of someone like Florence Waters, who would swoop in and add some much-needed madness and mayhem.

What does Kate Klise look like?

Here she is! Meet her in person on June 12th at the RI State House. Kate will be speaking at 1:00 in the Governor's State Room. Then, she will sign your books.

Don't worry if you don't own your own copy of any of her books yet. You'll get a copy of Regarding the Fountain for free (courtesy of McDonald's Owners/Operators of RI)! Other books by Kate Klise will be for sale.