Author Karen Clemens Warrick

I am the author of picture books for young children and biographies and histories for upper elementary and middle grade students.

I spent fifteen years as an elementary classroom teacher and have taught kindergarten, first, third, fifth, and resource students in grades 5-8. I enjoyed teaching and now I am delighted to visit schools as a guest author.

I offer a one-day interactive Meet-the-Author Program for grade K-6 or multiple-day Writer-in-Residence Workshops for grades 2-8. All my presentations are designed to encourage students’ enjoyment of reading, writing, science and history.

Did I always want to be a writer? I wish I could say that were so, but it’s not. I briefly considered majoring in journalism but decided that since I couldn’t spell, I certainly couldn’t write. Instead I completed a degree in elementary education.

In 1982, I attended the Greater Phoenix Area Writing Project and learned to help students work through the writing process. Doing writing projects with my students soon became one of my favorite classroom activities. Eventually, I decided that I wanted to write instead of teach. Since then I have worked as a reporter for a community newspaper, served as the Arizona Regional Advisor for the Society of Children’s Bookwriters and Illustrators, attended many conferences and writing workshops, presented my own classes and workshops on writing, and spent hours at my computer creating and composing. I have discovered that writing, like anything creative, can be challenging and frustrating. However, when I have completed a manuscript or project and done my very best, it is also very rewarding and satisfying.

My first picture book, If I Had A Tail, was published by Rising Moon in January, 2001. I also had two biographies released, P.T. Barnum, Genius of the Circus, and John Chapman, The Legendary Johnny Appleseed. These new titles were nice companions for Louisa May Alcott, Author of Little Women, my first published biography. My fourth biography, John Muir, Crusader for the Wilderness and the War of 1812, were published in 2002. Since then I have added several more titles to my list including: The Race for the North Pole and Robert Peary in World History, Benjamin Franklin--Creating a Nation, and the Perilous Search for the Fabled Northwest Passage.

Sherry Neidigh, the illustrator of If I Had a Tail, and I also had a second picture book, Who Needs That Nose? (Northword)released in April 2004. We are currently working on two more picture book ideas that we hope will be part of a series about curious animal characteristics.

I am presently researching my next project, a biography of Hannibal.

In my spare time, I like to read, mountain bike, hike, ski, travel, and play with my grandsons, Brevin and Baylor. I live in Prescott, Arizona with my husband, Jim, and two dogs, Fergie and Rojo.