About Karen B. Shea

I am Karen B. Shea, an award-winning author. I use my writing and photography to connect the young and young at heart with the wonders of nature.

My love of nature began in a rural area west of Chicago as a child. A place where open prairies and muddy marshes were my playground. Today, I live outside of Seattle with my family, two cats, and an assortment of wild critters that frequent my yard.

One of those frequent visitors, a little brown bundle of fur called a mountain beaver, was the inspiration for my first book.  When I first encountered him, he was literally living under my feet, and I had no idea what he was. Luckily, I was working as a volunteer on the wildlife rehabilitation side of PAWS, when we just happened to get a mountain beaver admitted one day. I soon became fascinated by this shy, secretive, and widely misunderstood animal. Few people know anything about mountain beavers, so I wrote Clark the Mountain Beaver and His Big Adventure! to introduce the world to mountain beavers. Clark’s message throughout the book teaches kids to embrace their uniqueness.

My second book, A Bug-Lightful Discovery, grew from a real-life moment when my seven-year-old neighbor wanted to stomp on a bug and I wouldn’t let her. Through Emelia’s exploration and self-discovery, she teaches us that everything has a purpose whether we know it or not...even bugs.

I am proud to say both books have won Positive Impact Awards, and A Bug-Lightful Discovery also earned a Book Excellence Award and two Firebird Book Awards.

I am, also, honored to be a Contributing Author in the books ANMALS: Personal Tales of Encounters with Spirit Animals by Dr. Steven Farmer and NATURE: Divine Experiences with Trees, Plants, Stones and Landscapes by Ana Maria Vasquez, books from the Common Sentience Series by Sacred Stories Publishing.

I believe the more we understand nature, the more we will feel a connection to it. And the more we feel a connection to it, the more apt we are to protect it. My passion for writing continues to lead me to inspire others with the magic and wonders of the natural world.

I invite you to sign up below for my Blog and weekly Monday Morning Musing so that we can experience nature together.