If anyone knows about underserved communities, it’s Kate DiCamillo. That’s why her publisher, Candlewick Press, has chosen to honor the award-winning author with its new grant, titled “Light the Way: Outreach to the Underserved.” The grant will award a $5,000 check to a library for its exemplary outreach programs. SLJ spoke to DiCamillo at her home in Minneapolis about why Candlewick chose to honor her in this way and what it means to her. The grant will be administered by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC); the deadline for applications is December 3. Full details are available online. Of course Candlewick would choose you as honoree—you’re their rock star! But the choice really fits because of all your characters who are downtrodden, underdogs… It is fabulous, because libraries meant so much to me personally; I always felt safe there. And, coming from a single-parent home, it was a place where I felt welcome, y’ know? So it matters a lot to me. My first reaction was, “anything with libraries delights me.” I was thrilled they were doing it. The name of the grant, “Light the Way,” is also perfect for you; there’s so much light and dark imagery in your work—and those words at the start of The Tale of Despereaux (2003): “The world is dark, and light is precious…” I love it; I thought of Despereaux, too. I also like it because I think of stories in general—which comes across very clearly in Despereaux—as "light." And I think that every good story is like a light on a dark path. You’ve spoken about how your father abandoned your family. Do those facets of your childhood make you feel a personal affinity to the award? The whole idea behind it clicked for me. It comes back more than anything else to what I said earlier about that feeling of safety and welcome that I always got from libraries. Every time I walk into a library and feel that, I think about all the people who, for various and assorted reasons, don’t know it’s available to them or are afraid to take advantage of it. They think they’re going to do something “wrong,” and they don’t know what to do to access [library materials]…. I hope that this grant helps reach those people. You’ve spoken about libraries as a safe haven. What can libraries do to serve the underserved? I don’t know what creative programs librarians will come up with. But I always think about this when I go to the art institute here in Minneapolis; it’s in a part of town where probably most people don’t go into because they’re intimidated by it, I think. If there’s a way past that intimidation, there’s so much solace and beauty and light—sorry, that’s one of my obsessions, as you know—there, and available. And it’s just breaking through that barrier. So if [the grant] can just pave the way to showing them how to use the library and that there’s no “wrong” way to do anything—and how to navigate through it, that would make me so happy. I’ve seen the galleys for Great Joy, your holiday-themed picture book [to be published Oct. 9]. There’s yet another “underdog” in it! I got a final copy, and the further away you get from [your work], the more clearly you can see it. And I thought, when I read through it, “Well this is just the same story over and over again.” Y’know? All my preoccupations are there on the page! It’s just wanting people to come in from the cold, into the warmth and light of community. I don’t know why I’m so preoccupied with it, but I am.