A Few Words from Kate DiCamillo

I don’t remember when Katherine first told me about Maud Henderson and Robert E. Lee and the last kiss. I only know that the story delighted me so much that I kept asking Katherine to tell it to me again.

At some point, I asked her to write the story down.

Actually, I threatened her.

I told her that if she didn’t write the story, I would do it.

I didn’t mean it. Not really. I just wanted to know more about Maud.

Happily, Maud’s story is in this book. The last kiss is in this book. General Robert E. Lee’s horse, Traveller, is in this book, and the bones of Traveller are here as well.

This is the story of a life.

It is the story of a first-grade girl who did not receive any valentines. That first grader grew up to be a writer, and when the writer’s mother asked her why she hadn’t written about that terrible day of no valentines, the writer answered her by saying, “All my books are about the day I didn’t get any valentines.”

This book is a valentine.

It is Katherine’s valentine to her parents and to her children. It is her valentine to life and to stories.

It is her valentine to us.

And even though the stories are written down, I love them so much that I might still ask for Katherine to tell them to me again.