October Fiesta Author

Book Fiesta!

Due to Hurricane Rita this author preview is a few weeks late. : )

Schedule a library day before October ends and check out books on Virginia Kahl with your children.

The Duchess Bakes a Cake is her most famous/popular book. FIAR has it "rowed" in Volume 3.


Virginia Kahl never made a secret of her formula for writing children's books, but she did make a success of it.

BIO
Virginia Kahl, 1919-

Virginia Kahl was born in Milwaukee. She graduated from Milwaukee Downer College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Library School. She was a librarian at Milwaukee Public Library and Madison Public Schools. She served as Library Director at Maude Shunk Public Library in Menomonee Falls. From 1948-1955 she was a U.S. Army Special Services Librarian stationed in Berlin, Germany and Salzburg, Austria. She recently retired after more than 20 years of service from the Alexandria Public Library in Virginia. She remains active writing, volunteering, and participating in a variety of sports.
Virgnina Kahl has written and illustrated over a dozen picture books for children. She credits her experiences in Europe as influencing her writing and illustrating career. This is apparent in the illustrations depicting European settings and in the names she has chosen for the numerous picture book characters. Her humorous stories are exuberant, hilarious comedy. In her best known book, The Duchess Bakes a Cake, a bored duchess decides to bake a cake although she has limited culinary expertise. The cake rises to unexpected heights and although she "pushed it and pummeled it, punched it and pat on it, she poked it, pinched it -- and finally sat on it" she found herself among the clouds. The story continues as everyone tries to get her down. Finally the youngest of the thirteen daughters gets hungry and thereby discovers the solution. Kahl works successfully with a limited two or three colors; she draws simple illustrations to create a perfect melding of pictures and text. She frequently uses exaggerated rhymed verse which reinforces the comedy. Most of all Virginia Kahl understands what makes children laugh. The continued popularity of her books attests to their quality and readability.
Virginia Kahl has received honors for her works including the New York Herald Tribune's Spring Book Festival Award and the Lewis Carroll Book Shelf Award. The Duchess Bakes a Cake has been reproduced in filmstrip format by Miller-Brody.

Books by Virginia Kahl:
Away Went Wolfgang
The Duchess Bakes a Cake
Giants, Indeed!
Whose Cat is That?
The Habits of Rabbits
How Many Dragons are Behind the Door?
How Do You Hide a Monster?

*****
"Little children should enjoy their books. As long as possible, let them live in a world where characters are basically good, incidents are funny or exciting, and the story ultimately satisfying. I hope that the children who read my books have put them down with sighs of contentment, knowing that their expectations of cheerful uncomplicated tales with happy endings have been vindicated."
--Virginia Kahl, quoted from Contemporary Authors The Gale Literary Databases

*****
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