Karen Hesse is a poet and an author of books for children and young adults. She is perhaps best known for writing historical fiction — fiction that requires her to conduct detailed and meticulous research about another time and place, and then create a fictional story based on that research. Hesse does not just focus on the setting for her writing; she pays equal attention to the development of her characters. The protagonists in Hesse's writing are typically young, courageous, and determined females who discover ways to rise above adversity and tragedy. Through their trials and tribulations, Hesse portrays the power and endurance of the human spirit.
Hesse was born on August 29, 1952, in Baltimore, Maryland. Her childhood was not easy. She lived in a row house in an environment that did not include much privacy and, even though she was surrounded by people, she felt isolated. Her feelings of isolation spurred her to read, and her need for privacy led her to spend hours sitting on the boughs of an apple tree located out her back door, with a good book. Hesse loved to read, often getting into trouble for reading at night when she was supposed to be sleeping. As a child, one of her favorite authors was Dr. Seuss; later, author Katherine Paterson became another childhood favorite.
Hesse was a shy girl. She felt as though she was from another world, as though she never really belonged. She had friends, but she never felt close enough to them to trust them with her innermost secrets. Consequently, Hesse was lonely. Her world became the world she found in the books she read. Her reading also fueled her imagination. At one point during her childhood, her mother had to keep her from leaping from an upstairs window because Hesse believed she could fly.
