I’ve known Calliope Kate since she was just a puppet, born on the Mississippi River and swimming like a catfish. Her award-winning puppeteer, Karen Konnerth, decided to expand Kate’s horizons and put her in a picture book. She signed up with the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators to learn the skills and procedures for children’s writers. I met Kate and my friend Karen when Karen brought her puppet Kate and an early draft of the book that would become Calliope Kate and the Voice of the River to a meeting for critique more than five years ago.
Based on a tall tale, Calliope Kate causes problems with Ma and Pa from the beginning with her strong will and refusal to be a dainty girl. Instead, she knits a sock that turns out to be a sleeping bag big enough for the family, straightens out crooks in the Mississippi River, and rides a giant catfish. Little do her parents know what will happen when Kate ditches the delicate piano they want her to learn for the steamboat calliope. Story notes at the book’s end give interesting background information and definitions about the tale. A book trailer at www.karenkonnerth.com lets you meet the puppet Kate and hear the author.
Karen puts as much energy into her book writing as she has always done with her puppets. This photograph shows her at an early morning breakfast in a Houston, TX SCBWI workshop. She is on the right, and I am on the left. Even a pandemic couldn’t slow her down as she joined the 7Cz, a twice weekly Zoom critique group. I find one of the perks of being a member of that group is watching Karen’s process as she sketches and plans her books. (Yes, there are more in the works!)