Kate DiCamillo spent most of her childhood in the South, and moved to Minnesota when she was in her twenties. She was inspired to write Because of Winn-Dixie, her first novel, during a bout of homesickness one brutally cold winter. The book was an immediate success: it is a Newbery Honor Book, has won more than twenty-five state awards, and has been made into a popular family film. Kate DiCamillo’s subsequent books include the Newbery Medal-winning The Tales of Desperaux, The Tiger Rising, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and The Magician’s Elephant. She lives in Minneapolis.

Genres: Children's Fiction