About

Kari grew up on a lake in New Hampshire with her sister and parents spending the summers swimming and eating blackberries. She went to a small school in central New Hampshire, so small that her graduating class had only 17 students in it. She has always loved reading and writing and channeled that love into pursuing a degrees in English and Early Childhood Education, as well as a masters in the Teaching of Writing. Kari loves watching how literacy develops in children. She loves seeing how kids connect to books and words and stories. Kari has worked with the National Writing Project in New Hampshire as a teacher consultant.

formal Bio

Kari Allen lives in New Hampshire where she is an author and a teacher. Her 6-book early reader series, Maddie and Mabel, has received two starred reviews and has been selected as a Bank Street Best Books of 2022, a Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2022, a Cybils Award finalist and a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard. Her book, The Boy Who Loved Maps (2022, Anne Schwartz Books/Penguin Random House), was a Bank Street’s Best Children’s Books of the Year selection, and her board book, Whose Prints? (2023, Little Simon/Simon & Schuster) received a starred review from School Library Journal, the 2023 Board Book Cybils Award, a Blueberry Honor Award, and was named a Bank Street’s Best Children’s Books of 2024. Kari has authored two Little Golden Books biographies: The Bee Gees and Julia Child (coming fall 2024). Passionate about literacy education and children’s literacy, Kari creates educator guides for authors and illustrators to encourage teachers and kids to interact with their books. When not writing or teaching, Kari might be found reading at the lake, beekeeping, or cooking for family and friends. Follow her at kariallenwrites.com and on Instagram @kariallenwrites.

Favorite Things....

-Water. It could be the ocean, the lake, even a rainstorm. There is something about water that just makes me happy!

-Sunsets. Taking pictures of sunsets. Sunset colors...someday I'll see that green flash that happens when the sun hits the horizon in just the right way.

-Birthday Cake. Well, frosting really. But a birthday cake with the right frosting is perfection.  

-School supplies. New pens, new notebooks, sticky notes. 

-Photography. I love taking pictures. In high school I used to develop my own pictures in a darkroom. I used film longer than most people did. All the pictures you are seeing are mine (unless I am in it). I am usually behind the camera and not in front of it. Capturing moments, big and small, is important to me. 

-My family and friends. Hanging out with my husband and kids, just spending time together. 

-Broadway musicals, Hallmark Christmas movies, skee- ball, Babysitter Club books, bookstores, sports movies (even though I've never been a great athlete...)