Kathleen is widely known for her lively
presentations on young adult books. This is her twelfth year of
presenting all-day workshops that receive excellent evaluations from
participants. Kathleen was a public and school librarian for 17 years
and served as chairperson of the Newbery Award Committee. She has
presented at conferences throughout the U.S. Teachers, librarians, and
parents have come to rely on her four book guides including Great Books for Girls, for which Kathleen appeared on NBC’s Today Show.
Kathleen has given hundreds of workshops on young adult books and how
to use them with teens. She is currently a seminar presenter for TTL
Seminars (Tools for
Teaching and Learning)
and gave YA book seminars for BER for many years. Kathleen
is an adjunct professor at the University of Rhode Island, where she
teaches young adult literature, and an instructor in Mansfield
University’s on-line School Libraries and Information Technologies
program.
Kathleen was the chairperson of the prestigious Newbery Award Committee in 2001
as well as a member of an earlier Newbery Award Committee, Caldecott
Award Committee, Notable Children’s Books Committee, and Carnegie
Award Committee for videos. Before turning to writing and public
speaking, Kathleen worked as a children’s librarian for seventeen
years in schools and public libraries in California and Rhode Island.
An influential critic, Kathleen has been reviewing books for young
people in national publications since the early 1980s. She reviews
for Kirkus Reviews, Teacher-Librarian,
and The Providence Journal. She reviewed previously for School Library Journal and Booklist. She
was a contributing editor to BOOK: The Magazine for the Reading
Life for five years.
Kathleen is the author of four guides, Great Books
for Girls: More than 600 Recommended Books for Girls Ages 3-14 (first published in 1997 and revised in May 2002), Great Books
for Boys: More than 600 Books for Boys 2 to 14 (Ballantine,
1998), Great Books about Things Kids Love: More than 750 Recommended
Books for Children 3 to 14 (Ballantine, 2002), and Great
Books for Babies and Toddlers: More than 500 Recommended Books for
Your Child’s First Three Years (Ballantine, 2003).
Her books have attracted national attention on television and radio,
and in newspapers and magazines. She has been featured on NBC’s
Today Show, All Things Considered, CNN, Fox Network, Minneapolis
Public Radio, San Francisco’s KQED, and Parents’ Radio.
Her books have been featured and reviewed in the New York Times
Sunday Book Review, Christian Science Monitor, US News and World
Report, USA Today, Ms., Newsday, Boston Globe, Denver Post, Dallas
Morning News, Business Week, and the Providence Journal,
among others. Her guides have sold more than 125,000 copies
A Minnesota native and current Rhode Island resident, Kathleen
has a B.A. in English from Carleton College, Northfield, MN, and
an MLS and M.A. in Folklore from the University of California at
Berkeley. Her folklore thesis on the lore of the stock market was
the subject of her first book, High Steppers, Fallen Angels,
and Lollipops: Wall Street Slang (Dodd, Mead, 1988).
Kathleen also blogs occasionally at The Uncommon Corps with Marc Aronson, Sue Bartle, Mary Ann Cappiello, and Myra Zarnowski. We're combining the forces of librarians, education professors, and a writer to champion children's and YA nonfiction. Check out the resources there.
You can reach her at kathleen@kathleenodean.com.
Kathleen also blogs occasionally at The Uncommon Corps with Marc Aronson, Sue Bartle, Mary Ann Cappiello, and Myra Zarnowski. We're combining the forces of librarians, education professors, and a writer to champion children's and YA nonfiction. Check out the resources there.
You can reach her at kathleen@kathleenodean.com.
