Karen Hesse
Karen Hesse | |
---|---|
Born | MacArthur Fellow | August 29, 1952
Spouse | Randy Hesse |
Karen S. Hesse (born August 29, 1952) is an American author of children's literature and literature for young adults, often with historical settings.[1] She received the Newbery Medal for Out of the Dust (1997).
Early years and education
Karen Hesse was born in
Career
After graduating, she moved with her husband to Brattleboro, Vermont, 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.[2]
Out of the Dust 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
Hesse also wrote
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 Brattleboro, Vermont.
Awards
Hesse was a
For Out of the Dust (Scholastic, 1997), she won the Newbery Medal from the American Library Association, recognizing the year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children", and the annual Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.
In 2012 Hesse received the Phoenix Award from the Children's Literature Association for Letters from Rifka, recognizing the best children's book published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award.[5]
Works
- 1991, Wish on a Unicorn (Henry Holt, ISBN 978-0-312-37611-6)
- 1992, ISBN 978-0-312-53561-2)
- 1993, Lester's Dog, illus.
- 1993, Poppy's Chair, illus. Kay Life (Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-02-743705-8)
- 1994, ISBN 978-0-8050-3108-9)
- 1994, Sable, illus. Marcia Sewall (Henry Holt, ISBN 978-0-613-08689-9)
- 1995, A Time of Angels (Hyperion, ISBN 9780786800872)
- 1995, Lavender, illus. Andrew Glass (Google Books edition, Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-8050-4257-3)
- 1996, ISBN 978-0-590-89797-6)
- 1997, ISBN 978-0-590-36080-7)
- 1998, Just Juice, illus. Robert Andrew Parker (Google Books edition, Scholastic, ISBN 978-0-590-03383-1)
- 1999, Come on, Rain, illus. Jon J. Muth (Scholastic, ISBN 978-0-590-33125-8)
- 1999, A Light in the Storm: the Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin (Scholastic, ISBN 978-0-439-44557-3)
- 2000, Stowaway (Google Books edition, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 978-0-689-83987-0)
- 2001, ISBN 978-0-439-27200-1)
- 2003, Aleutian Sparrow (Google Books edition, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 978-0-689-86189-5)
- 2003, The Stone Lamp: Eight Stories of Hanukkah through History, illus. J. Brian Pinkney (Hyperion, ISBN 978-0-7868-0619-5)
- 2004, The Cats in Krasinski Square, illus. Wendy Watson (Google Books edition[ISBN 978-0-439-43540-6)
- 2005 The Young Hans Christian Andersen (Scholastic, ISBN 978-0-439-67990-9)
- 2008, Spuds, illus. Wendy Watson (Scholastic, ISBN 978-0-439-87993-4)
- 2008, Brooklyn Bridge (Google Books edition, Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-312-37886-8)
- 2011, "Nell" — a short story included in the young-adult anthology What You Wish For (Putnam, ISBN 978-0-399-25454-3) (also available on Tor.com)
- 2012, Safekeeping (Feiwel & Friends, ISBN 9781250011343)
- 2016, My Thumb (Feiwel & Friends, ISBN 978-0-312-67120-4)
See also
References
- ^ "Karen Hesse" Archived 2013-03-13 at the Wayback Machine. Children's Literature Network. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
- ^ a b "Educational Paperback Association". www.edupaperback.org. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
- ^ "Karen Hesse Books, Author Biography, and Reading Level - Scholastic". www.scholastic.com.
- ^ "Past Winners". Jewish Book Council. Retrieved 2020-01-19.
- ^ "Phoenix Award Brochure 2012"[permanent dead link]. Children's Literature Association. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
See also the current homepage, "Phoenix Award" Archived 2012-03-20 at the Wayback Machine. - ^ LESTER'S DOG | Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ "Lester's Dog by Karen Hesse". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
External links
- Official website — Karen Hesse Blog: snapshots of a writer's life
- Karen Hesse at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Karen Hesse at Macmillan US
- Karen Hesse at Scholastic Teachers