This afternoon, Sky class enjoyed participating in a live webcast with Kate DiCamillo, the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and author of many beloved children's books including the Mercy Watson series, Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux, Flora & Ulysses, and more.
The live Q&A session celebrated the 10th anniversary of Mercy Watson, the porcine wonder of Deckawoo Drive, and was presented by Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures & Candlewick Press. Classes from all around the world tuned in to hear Kate talk about her writing and, of course, Mercy Watson!
During the webcast, students had the opportunity to submit questions to Kate through a back channel chatroom. Students asked about how Kate got her ideas for certain characters, and what her inspiration was for writing the Mercy Watson series. Though our questions were not selected, Kate answered similar questions, telling us that Mercy simply had to be a pig because pigs are just "inherently funny" animals, aren't they? The idea that Mercy absolutely loved buttered toast came to Kate in a car ride with a friend going to the airport. Her friend (not named Mercy) brought along a piece of buttered toast to eat in KATE'S CAR (which was appalling to Kate), and thus, an idea was born.
Want to know more about Mercy Watson? She has her very own website!
Click the picture below to visit.
Click the picture below to visit.
