but she was a difficult person.’ And I thought, that’ s who gets things done! She sacrificed niceness for accomplishment. She truly loved those children, and she fought for them to come into the library when everybody said,“ they’ ll mess up everything.” She knew they wouldn’ t. She had a lot of trust in and an immense love for children. Adults, not so much!
Megan: How did you first learn about her? I was a little embarrassed that, as a trained librarian, I had not heard of her before.
Katherine: One reason I want the book to be widely read is because most people have never heard of her.
Megan:: That’ s true for so many important women who have done amazing things throughout history.
Katherine: Exactly. I can’ t ever say I was a persecuted woman. My father had four daughters that he was always proud of and was happy with whatever we accomplished. I married a man who promised me he’ d never stand in my way of accomplishing anything, and he was my first editor and biggest supporter. I had four children; two boys who have married women of accomplishment, as well. I haven’ t lived a persecuted life, and I’ m very grateful for that. I know so many women for whom that’ s the story of their lives.
I was invited to go to a meeting of the USBBY. That’ s a section of the IBBYP, which Jella founded. I became curious about her, and I read her book, which is kind of a memoir, but she does not talk about her early life. She focused mostly on what happened after World War II, when she went back to Germany.
Finding out about the details of her early life was hard and I’ ve wondered about that, because it must have been very painful. When she first started working, there would still have been people in Germany that she would have had hard experiences with.
Megan: It was really inspiring to read her story. When she started writing letters to publishers to ask for books, I thought nobody would respond, or it would take a long while to get a response. And people responded.
Katherine: I think she really expected people to respond. And when Belgium said,“ No, we can’ t,” she said,“ Oh yes, you can.” That was because of her concern for the children, that if they didn’ t have something besides Nazi propaganda, there’ d be nothing. I really wish I could find out which of post-World War II Germany’ s leaders were influenced by that library, because I can’ t help but believe that she made a difference. Those children who came to the library and were trusted and knew that she was fighting for them and getting those books for them, I can’ t help but believe it made a real difference in their lives.
Megan: Let’ s talk about the illustrator, Sally Deng. As I was reading through the book, this illustration of some of the children made me stop, because their mouths are missing. It’ s very powerful. I wondered if the two of you ever talked, or if she just read your words and this is what she did?
Katherine: Publishers don’ t like writers to talk to illustrators, because we’ re bossy people. And I think it’ s very wise. I would never, never have dreamed of this illustration. To me, the illustrator is another voice, another vision. I’ m just so grateful for what she did, and for the art editor who somehow managed to incorporate the photographs with the original art. When they told me they were going to do that, I thought,“ Is that going to work?” It’ s beautiful, absolutely beautiful. I’ m just so grateful for the way it turned out.
Megan: When did you start working on it?
Katherine: At least 15 years ago. I’ m slow on the original, but very fast on revisions. And I love to revise. I’ ve been very blessed as a writer. I’ m one of the very few people, maybe the only one, who had the same editor for 40 years, Virginia Buckley. She often reminded me when she sent her 8- or 10-page, single spaced letter responding to what I sent her,“ Remember what you said about‘ revision’?” My quote on revision is that“ It’ s the only place where spilt milk can be turned into ice cream.”
Megan: I watched a speech of yours, in which you talk about Virginia and her response to Bridge to Terabithia. She asked you if it was about death or friendship. You thought it was about death, and you went and did some revisions to make it more about friendship.
Katherine: Virginia told me that what I had sent her was not good. And I was aware of that. As soon as I mailed it, I thought,“ No real writer would ever send this to an editor.” I was sure she was going to say,“ You know, it’ s been nice working with you, but you’ ve lost all your ability!” She didn’ t know I’ d had cancer or that my son’ s best friend had been killed. She didn’ t know any of those details that had gone into the writing.
Megan: There was some personal life experience in that story.
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