When Kara LaReau ’92 looks back at her senior year at Fairfield University, her fondest memory is of performing Vivaldi’s “Gloria” with the Glee Club.
“I’ll never forget that incredible music and the youthful energy we had when we sang it,” she said.
During her time singing with the Glee Club and Chamber Singers, LaReau probably was not thinking that her extracurricular activities would help her in her current career in publishing and writing children’s books.
“My musical education has contributed to my editorial career, as it trained me to have a ‘good ear’,” she said. “I’m always listening for the rhythm of a story, of a good sentence, or a well-chosen phrase.”
LaReau, a native of Stratford, CT, graduated Fairfield with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Writing, Literature and Publishing from Emerson College in Boston in 1996.
Upon graduation from Emerson, she worked at Candlewick Press for eight years where she discovered young adult author Kate DiCamillo.
One of LaReau’s tasks when she began as an editorial assistant was to clean out the office of a past editor. There were boxes and boxes of manuscripts and each night LaReau would bring one box home and shovel through the manuscripts.
When LaReau stumbled upon DiCamillo’s manuscript it was like fate.
“I’d seen so many not-so-good manuscripts at that point,” she said. “It was like a breath of fresh air to read one that had such great potential.”
“Because of Winn-Dixie” was published in 2000 and received a Newbery Honor that same year, according to the Association for Library Service to Children website.
LaReau recently began working at Scholastic and is writing children’s books of her own.
“I didn’t know I had an interest in writing books for children until I started editing books for children. I spend all my time reviewing and considering other people’s manuscripts; it was only a matter of time before I was inspired to write my own,” she said.
LaReau’s sister Jenna is an illustrator and designer.
“Creating picture books provides the perfect opportunity for us to work together,” she said.
The LaReau sisters have collaborated on two books entitled “Rocko and Spanky Have Company” and “Rocko and Spanky Go to a Party”, according to their website: www.lareausisters.com.
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