Meeting Katherine Applegate

One of my favorite books this year has been Wishtree by Katherine Applegate. You can read my post about Wishtree here. Katherine Applegate has also written the Newbery winning, The One and Only Ivan as well as Crenshaw (and many, many more). When I found out that Katherine Applegate would be in St. Louis I knew I HAD to be there.  She gave a talk about her newest picture book, Sometimes You Fly, answered questions, and signed books.

Here are some of my thoughts from her talk-

• Even people who are really talented sometimes feel unsure about themselves.- Ms. Applegate told the story about how she was very unsure of herself as an author. She started her career as a ghostwriter. When she tweeted back a response to my class she said, " I was a ghostwriter when I started out, but the first big thing I published under my own name was the ANIMORPHS series (with my husband, Michael). I'd already been out of college for about 10 years! Let's just say there were a lot of tries before I did anything close to flying."
• Anything worth doing will probably be difficult.- Katherine also told a story about how she almost stopped writing when she was half way through the manuscript of The One and Only Ivan. Can you imagine? She was ready to throw away the manuscript!!! This title went on to win the Newbery Medal. Kids and adults all over the world have loved reading the touching of Ivan, and when writing got difficult, Katherine kept going. 
• Katherine Applegate connects with readers.- The day after the book signing I was talking to my students and showing them the books signed by Katherine Applegate. They were all so excited and wanted to hear more. I tried to remember all the stories she told during her discussion, but my students still had more questions. They suggested that I tweet out their questions. So I did, and Katherine Applegate tweeted us back. We were able to use social media to connect students to a favorite author.