I’m not always sure that Kate DiCamillo writes for kids.
I never got to read Kate DiCamillo as a I kid so I can’t say for certain if her writing would have worked for me. When I was much younger, I liked all kinds of books that were definitely not for kids–like THE CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR when I was 12. (My mother heart still gasps at this.)
So maybe she does write for kids and I just forget how much young people can take.
All of that is to say that I very much enjoyed her latest release called THE BEATRYCE PROPHECY. Parents are killed in it. Bad guys are seriously bad, taking over kingdoms and creating endless wars.
I also found a people-biting goat named Answelica who loves the protagonist, a quietly heroic monk with a lazy eye, and a boy with a sword who learns to let go of a much-deserved need for revenge.
At the center of it all is Beatryce, who saves many of those she loves by reading and writing stories and facing past trauma along with current well-deserved fears.
On top of all that, the illustrations by Sophie Blackall let me see these characters on the page much like the words let me see them in my heart.
I guess, in the end, Kate writes and Sophie draws for anyone who needs it. No matter which box the booksellers put them in.
I’m sure glad they do.
Karrie Ann