This was an excellent means of keeping her presence in the story without making things up. I appreciated de Paola's depictions of Scholastica on almost every page, even though most of the text was about Benedict, who has a much larger textual legacy. de Paola's simple yet nuanced artwork illustrates Norris's lovely words about the Holy Twins, their spiritual journeys, and their associated miracles. Kathleen Norris and Tomie de Paola are a dream team for a picture book based on the lives of Benedict and Scholastica. Her father died in 2002, and her husband died the following year in 2003. In 2000, Norris and her husband traded their farmhouse on the Great Plains for a condo in Honolulu, Hawaii, so that Norris could help care for her aging parents after her husband’s own failing health no longer permitted him to travel. Soon after moving to the rural prairie, Norris developed a relationship with the nearby Benedictine abbey, which led to her eventually becoming an oblate. Instead, they ended up remaining in South Dakota for the next 25 years. In 1974, her grandmother died leaving Norris the family farm in South Dakota, and she and her future husband, the poet David Dwyer, decided to temporarily relocate there until arrangements to rent or sell the property could be made. At first shocked by the unconventionality surrounding her, Norris took refuge in poetry.Īfter she graduated in 1969, she moved to New York City where she joined the arts scene, associated with members of the avant-garde movement including Andy Warhol, and worked for the American Academy of Poets.

Her sheltered upbringing left her unprepared for the world she encountered when she began attending Bennington College in Vermont. She grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, as well as on her maternal grandparents’ farm in Lemmon, South Dakota.

Kathleen Norris was born on Jin Washington, D.C.

The Holy Twins by Kathleen Norris