Author spotlight: Kate Klise

If Donny and Marie are a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll, Kate Klise and her illustrator/sister Sarah Klise are a little bit Beatrix Potter and a little bit Judy Blume. Together they have written and illustrated 14 books. 4 are picture books for younger kids.

My personal favorite Klise picture book is Why do you Cry?:Not a Sob Story, Little Rabbit, who will be turning five wants to invite only friends to his birthday who do not cry, when he learns all of his friends still cry, he tells his mom she will be the only one at his birthday. But guess what...mom tells Little Rabbit something he did not know about her either.

7 of the Klise books are epistolary books, written through letters (and faxes, memos, newspaper articles, etc.) Regarding the Fountain is a great read aloud for all elementary school grades. A leaky drinking fountain at a school prompts the principal to begin the process of ordering a new one. The woman who is hired to build a new fountain consults the students. The kid’s input includes a fountain with an aquarium on the bottom where fish swim, and chocolate shakes that come out of the fountain, among other ideas. Will the school get a new drinking fountain? Will it be just a regular one? As in most of Klise books, kids can have fun solving the mystery while developing an appreciation for idioms and word play.

Klise's first two books Deliver Us From Normal and Far From Normal, that were written without collaborating with her sister, are more serious books, geared towards older kids. Klise describes one reason for writing these books was that she wanted to write about a big "beautifully chaotic" family. Much of her material when writing the Normal books may have been drawn from personal experience, as Klise is one of six kids. Regarding family Klise states, " I Like that there's no love as fierce as the love you feel for your family;that there's no one you feel more protctive of than the very same people who can drive you crazy." As usual, Klise always finds the perfect way to say how we all feel, seemlessly blending truth and humor.

As much as Klise finds beauty in chaos, she equally relishes peace and tranquility, living and writing from her 40 acre farm in Missouri. In addition to her sucessful career as a children's author she writes for People magazine and in 2001 wrote her first play, a musical called, (Really) Grim Fairy Tales.

Look for Klise's most recent release, Little Rabbit and the Nightmare and the first book in the soon to be released, Old Cemetery Series, Dying to Meet You - due out in Spring of 2009.