Karen Hesse is the author of many books for young people, including Out of the Dust, winner of the Newbery Medal, Letters from Rifka, Brooklyn Bridge, Phoenix Rising, Sable and Lavender. In addition to the Newbery, she has received honors including the Scott O’Dell Historical Fiction Award, the MacArthur Fellowship “Genius” Award and the Christopher Award, and was nominated for a National Jewish Book Award. Born in Baltimore, Hesse graduated from the University of Maryland. She and her husband Randy live in Vermont.

Books by Karen Hesse

My Thumb

Written by Karen Hesse with illustrations by Rich Deas - Children's 2-4, Fiction, Humor, Picture

Safekeeping

by Karen Hesse - Fiction, Young Adult 12+

Aleutian Sparrow

by Karen Hesse

Witness

by Karen Hesse

Stowaway

by Karen Hesse

A Time of Angels

by Karen Hesse

A Light in the Storm: The Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin

by Karen Hesse

Out of the Dust

by Karen Hesse - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Poetry

In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.