Karen Hesse facts for kids

Karen S. Hesse, born on August 29, 1952, is an American writer. She writes books for children and young adults. Many of her stories are set in the past, like historical fiction. She won a special award called the Newbery Medal for her book Out of the Dust in 1997.

Karen Hesse's Early Life and School

Karen Hesse was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She went to Towson State College nearby. In 1971, she married Randy Hesse. She also studied at the University of Maryland, College Park. She earned a degree in English. She also studied psychology and anthropology. During her college years, she started writing poems.

Karen Hesse's Writing Career

After finishing college, Karen Hesse and her husband moved to Brattleboro, Vermont. They had two daughters, Rachel and Kate. Karen Hesse worked in publishing and began writing books for children.

Her first story idea was about meeting Bigfoot, but it was not published. Her next idea became her first book, Wish on a Unicorn, published in 1991.

Out of the Dust is a story about a girl living during the Dust Bowl. This was a time when severe dust storms hit parts of the United States. The main character's mother dies while giving birth. After this sad event, the girl and her father try to keep going with their lives.

In 2001, Hesse wrote Witness, a novel written in verse. This book explores a more serious topic. It is about the Ku Klux Klan trying to take over a small Vermont town in the 1920s. The story is told from the viewpoints of several different people. These characters include members of the Klan, a farmer, a young Jewish girl, an African American girl, and others. In Witness, Karen Hesse continued her unique style of writing, which mixes poetry and prose. She first used this style in Out of the Dust.

Karen Hesse also wrote The Music of Dolphins. This book is about a girl who was raised by dolphins.

Stowaway was first published in 2000. It is based on the true story of an 11-year-old boy. He secretly boarded Captain James Cook's ship, the Endeavour, in 1768. The book is written like a diary. It tells the story from the perspective of Nicholas Young, who was a cabin boy on the ship. In the United Kingdom, this book is called Young Nick's Head.

Brooklyn Bridge is another book based on a true story. It tells about the family who created the teddy bear in Brooklyn in 1903. As of 2020, Karen Hesse was still living in Brattleboro, Vermont, with her husband.

Awards and Recognition

Karen Hesse received a special award called the MacArthur Fellow in 2002. This award recognizes talented people in many fields.

For her book Out of the Dust (1997), she won the Newbery Medal. This award is given by the American Library Association. It recognizes the best children's book published in the United States each year. She also won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for the same book.

Her book Letters from Rifka (1992) won an International Reading Association Award. It also received a National Jewish Book Award.

In 2012, Karen Hesse received the Phoenix Award. The Children's Literature Association gives this award. It honors the best children's book published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award at the time.

Karen Hesse's Books

• 1991, Wish on a Unicorn
• 1992, Letters from Rifka
• 1993, Lester's Dog
• 1993, Poppy's Chair
• 1994, Phoenix Rising
• 1994, Sable
• 1995, A Time of Angels
• 1995, Lavender
• 1996, The Music of Dolphins
• 1997, Out of the Dust
• 1998, Just Juice
• 1999, Come on, Rain
• 1999, A Light in the Storm: the Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin
• 2000, Stowaway
• 2001, Witness
• 2003, Aleutian Sparrow
• 2003, The Stone Lamp: Eight Stories of Hanukkah through History
• 2004, The Cats in Krasinski Square
• 2005 The Young Hans Christian Andersen
• 2008, Spuds
• 2008, Brooklyn Bridge
• 2011, "Nell" (a short story)
• 2012, Safekeeping
• 2016, My Thumb
• 2018, "Night Job"
• 2022, "Granny and Bean"