I don't know about you, but Mercy Watson is pretty popular in my house.

If you're over the age of 10, you may not know she's the main character and the wildly popular children's book series.

And my next guest is the wildly talented and prolific author

behind those stories, Kate DeCamillo. She's a literary powerhouse, a best-selling author,

with more than 43 million books in print and a Newberry award winner. DeCamillo has entered the

hearts and home of readers thanks to other family favorite stories, like

because of Winn-Dixie, which has sold 11 million copies worldwide, and made it to the big screen.

Kate writes for kids, but readers of all ages of flock to purchase her books. Her innate ability

to create worlds of imagination and adventure, draw her youngest readers in, and spark

a love of reading. I caught up with her for an exclusive interview when I released my first

read with Jenna Jr. reading list to get a peek at the person behind the dynamic storytelling.

She opens up about the power of being authentically yourself and finding a path forward after hearing so many

knows at the start of her career. I'm Jenna Bush-Hager. Welcome to another episode of Read with Jenna.

Thank you.

I'm sure you know that I've a long time admirer of your work.

Well, you were just telling me that I'm going to believe you. A long time admirer. And what I love about it is how human it is. How raw, how human.

And how do you, how do you feel like you got to this point, to where you could observe the world

through the eyes of these kids. I like that you say

it's raw and human because it's like I feel like that's part of my job is to show up with my whole

self and my whole self is joyful, hopeful, and brokenhearted. And to write for kids, I put all of that in there because I remember

what it was like as an eight-year-old, where I was joyful, hopeful, and also worried and broken-hearted.

And so that's my whole self, and it goes into the stories. And I feel so

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