It was released in fall 2013 to great acclaim, including five starred reviews, and was an instant New York Times bestseller. Her latest novel, Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, won the 2014 Newbery Medal. Since then, the master storyteller has written for a wide range of ages, including two comical early-chapter-book series - Mercy Watson, which stars a 'porcine wonder' with an obsession for buttered toast, and Bink & Gollie, which celebrates the tall and short of a marvelous friendship - as well as a luminous holiday picture book, Great Joy. Her second novel, The Tiger Rising, went on to become a National Book Award Finalist. 'After the Newbery committee called me, I spent the whole day walking into walls,' she says. After moving to Minnesota from Florida in her twenties, homesickness and a bitter winter helped inspire Because of Winn-Dixie - her first published novel, which, remarkably, became a runaway bestseller and snapped up a Newbery Honor. Kate DiCamillo's own journey is something of a dream come true. Together, we see one another.” Born in Philadelphia, the author lives in Minneapolis, where she faithfully writes two pages a day, five days a week. It’s nearly impossible to read the Mercy Watson books without expression.Kate DiCamillo, the newly named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2014–2015, says about stories, “When we read together, we connect. Reading aloud is an important skill to develop, and these books work exceptionally well as read alouds. The Mercy Watson books are also outstanding choices to encourage young readers to read aloud with expression.

DiCamillo mixes humor and childlike pathos into her stories, and she keeps the focus in each story narrow enough that readers have no trouble following the storyline. Of course, the Tales from Deckawoo Drive series work as an ideal next step once children are comfortable with the original series. The early chapter book series (the original series) is a terrific choice for a read aloud to preschool and kindergarten-aged children, but the books also make one of the best transitional series for newly independent readers who are moving from books like Frog and Toad are Friends to longer chapter books like Henry Huggins.

Mercy watson chapter books