Kate Berube (Bear uh bee) grew up in a cow-filled Connecticut town where she dreamed of being an artist. She earned her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and spent a semester studying in Paris. Like many artists, though, her career trajectory wasn't a straight line – along the way she was a nanny, a tax preparer, a scenic painter, a decorative painter, and a bookseller (at celebrated Powell’s Books). Portland is where she now makes her home with her husband and children.
In 2013, Kate was featured on the blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, in an ‘Up-and-Coming Illustrator’ post. Publishers Weekly named Kate a spring 2016 ‘Flying Start’ and she now has seven picture books published with more on the way. Her work has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, The Horn Book, and Bookpage and has been on multiple ‘best book’ lists, including Chicago Public Library, SLJ and All the Wonders.
Kate's authorial debut, HANNAH AND SUGAR, was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal, was a CCBC Charlotte Zolotow Highly Recommended Title, a Parent’s Choice ’16, shortlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize, and won the Marion Vannett Ridgway Award and the Oregon Book Award for Children's Literature.
THE SUMMER NICK TAUGHT HIS CATS TO READ was a CLEL Bell Award winner. THE SANDCASTLE THAT LOLA BUILT and MAE’S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL were both reviewed in the New York Times. MAE’S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award for Children’s Literature and received a Council of Teachers of English Oregon Spirit honor award.
“Hello, Studio” studio tour and interview: