Karen S. Hesse (born August 29, 1952) is an American author of

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

and literature for young adults, often with historical settings. She won the

Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished cont ...

for ''Out of the Dust'' (1997).

Early years and education

Karen Hesse was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. She studied math at nearby Towson State College and married Randy Hesse in 1971 before completing her studies. She attended college at Towson University, the University of Maryland, and College Park. She earned a B.A. in English with double minors in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

, and

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

, during which she began writing poetry.

Career

After graduating, she moved with her husband to

Brattleboro, Vermont Brattleboro (), originally Brattleborough, is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The most populous municipality abutting Vermont's eastern border with New Hampshire, which is the Connecticut River, Brattleboro is located about ...

, had two children, Rachel and Kate, took jobs in publishing, and started writing children's books. Her first novel was a rejected story about meeting Bigfoot, but her next proposal was published by Henry Holt in 1991 as ''Wish on a Unicorn''. ''

Out of the Dust ''Out of the Dust'' is a children's verse novel by Karen Hesse, first published on January 1, 1997. Summary Billie Jo begins with how her father wanted to have a son instead of a daughter. He still loves her but treats her like the son he ne ...

'' is a story of a girl living through the dust bowl of the Depression. The mother of the central character dies giving birth to her stillborn brother Franklin. After the mother dies, Billie Jo and her father try to continue with their lives. Hesse tackled a more disturbing subject in the 2001 verse novel ''

Witness In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...

''. The Ku Klux Klan, re-invigorated in the 1920s (in this book, 1924 and '25) tries to take over a small Vermont town. The book is written from the perspectives of several people - Merlin Van Tornhout and Johnny Reeves, both members of the Klan; Sara Chickering, a farmer; Esther Hirsh, a six-year-old Jewish girl; Leonora Sutter, an African American girl; Iris Weaver, a restaurateur; Harvey and Viola Pettibone, shop owners; Reynard Alexander, a newspaper editor; Fitzgerald Flitt, the doctor; and Percelle Johnson, the town constable. In ''Witness'' Hesse continued the distinctive poetic/prose style she pioneered in ''Out of the Dust''. Hesse also wrote '' The Music of Dolphins'', about a girl who was raised by

dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...

. ''Stowaway'', first published in 2000 by Simon & Schuster USA, is based on the true story of an 11-year-old boy who stowed away on Captain James Cook's ship ''Endeavour'' in 1768. The UK version of this book is published under the title ''Young Nick's Head''. It is in the format of a diary written by Nicholas Young, the cabin boy on the ''Endeavour''. ''Brooklyn Bridge'' is based on the true story of the family who created the teddy bear in Brooklyn in 1903. At age 68 years, she was living with her husband, still in

Awards

Hesse was a

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

in 2002. For ''

'' (Scholastic, 1997), she won the

from the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

, recognizing the year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children", and the annual

Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction The Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction is an annual American children's book award that recognizes historical fiction. It was established in 1982 by Scott O'Dell, author of ''Island of the Blue Dolphins'' and 25 other children's books, in ho ...

. '' Letters from Rifka'' (MacMillan, 1992) won an International Reading Association Award and a

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.Phoenix Award The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one English-language children's book published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major literary award. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the ...

from the

Children's Literature Association The Children's Literature Association (ChLA) is a non-profit association, based in the United States, of scholars, critics, professors, students, librarians, teachers, and institutions dedicated to studying children's literature.Margaret W. Denman- ...

for ''Letters from Rifka'', recognizing the best children's book published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award.

Works

* 1991, ''Wish on a Unicorn'' (Henry Holt, , reprin
Google Books edition
Macmillan, 2009, ) * 1992, '' Letters from Rifka'' (MacMillan, 1992) (reprint Macmillan, 2009, ) * 1993, ''Lester's Dog'', illus. Nancy Carpenter (Crown, ) * 1993, ''Poppy's Chair'', illus. Kay Life (Macmillan, ) * 1994, '' Phoenix Rising'' (Macmillan, ) * 1994, ''Sable'', illus. Marcia Sewall (Henry Holt, )
Google Books edition
San Val, ) * 1995, ''A Time of Angels'' (Hyperion, ) * 1995, ''Lavender'', illus. Andrew Glass
Google Books edition
Macmillan, ) * 1996, '' The Music of Dolphins''
Google Books edition
Scholastic, ) * 1997, ''

''
Google Books edition
Scholastic, ) * 1998, ''Just Juice'', illus. Robert Andrew Parker
Google Books edition
Scholastic, ) * 1999, ''Come on, Rain'', illus. Jon J. Muth (Scholastic, ) * 1999, ''A Light in the Storm: the Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin'' (Scholastic, ) * 2000, ''Stowaway''
Google Books edition
Simon & Schuster, ) * 2001, ''

''
Google Books edition
Scholastic, ) * 2003, ''Aleutian Sparrow''
Google Books edition
Simon & Schuster, ) * 2003, ''The Stone Lamp: Eight Stories of Hanukkah through History'', illus. J. Brian Pinkney (Hyperion, ) * 2004, ''The Cats in Krasinski Square'', illus. Wendy Watson
Google Books edition
Scholastic, ) * 2005 ''The Young Hans Christian Andersen'' (Scholastic, ) * 2008, ''Spuds'', illus. Wendy Watson (Scholastic, ) * 2008, ''Brooklyn Bridge''
Google Books edition
Macmillan, ) * 2011, "Nell" — a short story included in the young-adult anthology ''What You Wish For'' (Putnam, ) (also available o
Tor.com
* 2012, ''Safekeeping'' (Feiwel & Friends, ) *2016, ''My Thumb'' (Feiwel & Friends, )

References

External links