I remember getting a lot of great advice and wisdom from my mother when I was a kid. “You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friend’s nose.”  “Don’t feed your brother dirt.”  “It’s always in the last place you look.” “Don’t listen to Elvis or the Beatles. They sold their souls to the Devil to get famous.”

I’m pretty on board for the first three, but one does have to wonder about the last one. There are times, however, when I do question how some people end up with the Midas touch.

One of the people that definitely has a gift is Kate DiCamillo. If someone were to ask me if I had a hero or an idol or someone I thought was ‘all that and a bag of chips’, I would say Kate. Every thing she writes is gold. I read her books to my students every year. Anyone that can get fifth grade boys to tear up over a book about a stuffed china rabbit….and beg to read it again when we’re done….there’s something going on there.

I recently ordered one of her newer books. It kind of snuck up on me. I didn’t know much about it, other than it was about a pig. I have a girl in my class who loves pigs. This happens every year, believe it or not. She has asked that we call her Mrs. Piggy. Not a joke. We don’t. But, we all acknowledge that she loves pigs.  I figured I could put this book in my library on the K. DiCamillo shelf (I have two) and she would read it.

When I got the book out today, I realized it was actually a full set of kid books. Gemma size. I can roll with that! I took the books up to bedtime with Baby G and we snuggled in to read them.

Let me just say, we read every night. I may not do much right as a parent, but we read at bedtime. Non negotiable…by either of us. Usually we read about the tiger crunching potato chips in the closet or Pinkalicious, over and over and over. Gem loves those stories and wants to read them A LOT. Repetition is good. Mostly.

She was game for a piggy story tonight. Like I said, I didn’t know much about it so…it was risky for the 3 year old attention span. There were a few pages that were filled with words and had no pictures. I was afraid G would get bored, but we just dove in.

I have never seen Gemma so engaged with a book. She was laughing and smiling and just loving every minute! She got into the belly laughing for a while when Mercy (the pig) took over the steering wheel and started driving the convertible.

Hats off, once again, to Kate DiCamillo. She is a master story teller. A golden spinner of tales. A builder of worlds of wonder and passion. I want to be like her when I grow into a real writer.

I’m pretty sure she hates cats, but you should read her books. Cause I said so.

Photo credit: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/college-as-told-by-pigs