Born:
August 29, 1952
Baltimore, MARYLAND
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Current Home:
Karen Hesse VERMONT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Biography
While growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, Hesse dreamed of becoming many things:
an archaeologist, an ambassador, an actor, an author. In 1969, she attended
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Towson State College as a theater major, but transferred after two semesters to
the University of Maryland, where she eventually earned a B.A. in English with
double minors in Psychology and Anthropology.
From the time Hesse was ten she thought of herself as “good with words,” thanks
to a perceptive and supportive fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Datnoff who believed
2 that she could be a professional writer some day and because Mrs. Datonoff
believed, so did Hesse believe it too. Though Karen Hesse gave up all her other
career dreams, she never gave up dreaming of publication. It took more than thirty
years to see that fifth grade dream come true. She didn’t know whether that made
her extremely patient or just plain stubborn.
Hesse earned wages as a waitress, a nanny, a librarian, a personnel officer, an
agricultural laborer, an advertising secretary, a typesetter, a proofreader, a
mental-health-care provider, a substitute teacher, and a book reviewer. In and
3 around the edges of all those jobs she had written poems, stories, and books,
books, books. The seed for Out of the Dust grew out of a picture-book idea.
Presented with an early draft of the forthcoming picture book, Come On, Rain
(1999); her writers group insisted she elaborated on why the characters wanted
rain so badly. Hesse began researching times when people desperately wanted rain
and Out of the Dust blossomed into existence.
Karen Hesse loves writing. She often says, “I can't wait to get to my keyboard
every morning.” Hesse also loves reading, hiking, spending time with friends and
family, traveling, and music — both playing it and listening to it. National Public
Radio is a frequent companion... the inspiration for The Music of Dolphins came
from an interview Hesse had heard on “Fresh Air.”
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Hesse believes that young readers are the most challenging, demanding, and
rewarding of audiences. Adults often ask why she writes for the younger set. Her
reply, “I can't think of anyone I'd rather write for.”
Hesse’s critically acclaimed novels include Witness, the story of the Klu Klux Klan's
attempt to recruit members in a small town in Vermont in 1924. In the voices of 11
residents of the town, the reader experiences the series of events from many
5 different points of view, in the form of a poetic play in five acts. Hesse has won
several Newbery awards and to this day continues to create young adult literature,
which is taught in many schools across the country.
Name: __________________________ Date: _____________
Karen Hesse Biography: Short answer questions Class Color: ________
Directions: Answer the following questions in 2-3 complete sentences (short
answer). Use details from the reading to support your answer.
1. List 5 jobs Karen Hesse earned a wage for? What is a wage?
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2. Why did Karen Hesse have various types of employment?
(Did these jobs help her with her career? How so?)
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3.. After reading this biography, what genres (types) of novels can you infer Hesse
enjoys
writing about? What time periods do you think her novels are about?
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6. What is the novel, Witness about?
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7. How old is Karen Hesse?
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8. What is the main idea of paragraph 1?
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9. What is the main idea of paragraph 2?
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10. What is the main idea of paragraph 3?
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10. What is the main idea of paragraph 4?
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11. What is the main idea of paragraph 5?
Conscious