Karen enjoys talking with students and their teachers about writing. She typically begins her presentations by telling a personal story or reading from one of her books. Using lots of visual props, she shows-and-tells her way through stories and often enlists students or teachers in a demonstration or an impromptu readers’ theater production. In addition to three formal 45-minute presentations, she’s also willing to talk informally with a small group of students or teachers over lunch; to pop into a class for a brief, casual chat about writing; or to visit a kindergarten class for a reading. If you have other ideas, she’s flexible and she’s yours all day.

In her programs for younger students, she talks about how picture book story ideas find her and the process of writing a book. In programs for upper-elementary and middle school students, she draws on her experiences as a news reporter and excerpts from Fire in Their Eyes to focus on how to write exciting nonfiction, sharing tips immediately useful for writing reports. She talks about research sources, including books, the Internet, and primary sources such as interviews. Emphasizing the importance of revision, Karen shows students how to transform “dry-as-dust” beginnings into dazzlers. Students in the nonfiction program will demonstrate a real firefighter’s training shelter, described in Fire in Their Eyes.