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CAROLYN LESSER  

 

1329 Belton Avenue, St. Louis MO 63119-4747   USA     

Cell: 314-882-0481   E-mail: clesserauthor10@gmail.com.. 

 

 

Education:  B.S. Elementary Education, The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

 

Additional study: fine art, Florissant Valley Community College, St. Louis, MO.

               Writing for Children and Teenagers, Institute of Children’sLiterature,

               Redding Ridge, CT.

Certifications: State of Missouri Public School Life Certificate, Grades 3-7.

 

Professional Experiences:

 

Author: Books:  The Goodnight Circle, Harcourt, 1984.

    Flamingo Knees, Oakwood Press, 1988.

    The Knees Knock Again, Oakwood Press, 1989.

    What a Wonderful Day to be a Cow, Alfred Knopf, 1995.

    Great Crystal Bear, Harcourt, 1996.

    Dig Hole, Soft Mole, Harcourt, 1996.

    Storm on The Desert, Harcourt, 1997.

    Spots: Counting Creatures from Sky to Sea, Harcourt, 1999.

    Spots: Counting Creatures from Sky to Sea, Korean translation, 2004. 

    Great Polar Bear, Quarto Publishing Group, 2018

    Great Polar Bear, Qingdao Publishing Group, Chinese translation, 2021.

    

     Articles: “Measuring Up to Dreams,” Children’s Book Market, 1986.

    “I Thought All Authors Were Dead”, The Missouri Reader, 1990.

    “Growing Up: Possibilities and Choices,” Growing Times, 1992.

    “Bear Quest,” Polar Bears Alive Newsletter, 1995.

    “Foreward” Contemporary American Women, Our Defining Passages, All Things That Matter       Press, 2009

 

     Poetry: “Nantucket At First Sight,” Nantucket Magazine, August 2002

            “Grace and Artichokes,” Fox Cry Review, 2008

             

 

Illustrator:     Great Polar Bear, Quarto Publishing Group, Spring, 2018;

 

 

Publisher:     Flamingo Knees, Oakwood Press, 1988.

                     The Knees Knock Again, Oakwood Press, 1989.

                     Explorer’s Whale Watching Journal, Carolyn Lesser, 2001.

 

Consultant/Speaker: Keynote, Workshops, Institutes:  

               Presentations at state, national, 

               International, educational conferences, professional development,

               Young Author Conferences, University classes, libraries, writer’s conferences,

               and National Writer’s Voice venue. 

 

Visiting Author: Schools in the United States, International Schools and                   

               Department of Defense Schools in Europe and Guam and schools in                                            Micronesia, in The South Pacific, and a private boarding school in China. 

 

Teacher:  Public and private elementary and middle schools, grades 3-7,  MO & WI

               Adult education classes in quilt making and quilt design, St. Louis MO.             

               Graduate courses at Maryville and Webster Universities, St. Louis MO.

               South Ocean International School, Datong, Shanxi Province, China.      

               Cape Cod Writer’s Center Summer Writer’s Conference, Craigville Beach, 

               MA.  August 2002 and August 2003.

 

              

Designer: Liturgical and secular fiber art commissions for churches, schools,        

                 in the United States and South America.

 

Artist:       Ceramic sculpture, oils, pastels, interior design, needlepoint, quilts,                

                greeting cards/stationary.

 

Photographer:  Color-saturated nature and abstracts; wildlife, landscapes, and people.

 

Memberships:  Fellow National member of The Explorer’s Club, 2002.

                National League of American Pen Women, in Letters, 2003.

                Science Writer’s Fellowship Alumni, Marine Biological Laboratories.

 

 Professional Achievements and Awards:

  • First place, Ceramic Sculpture, North County Artist’s Guild, St. Louis, MO, 1969, juried show of Fine Crafts.

 

  • The Goodnight Circle, Harcourt, 1984, one of fifty outstanding science trade books, National Association of Science Teachers and the Children’s Book Council.

 

  • The Goodnight Circle, Harcourt, 1984, Award for literary merit, from The Friends Of American Writers, Chicago, IL.

     

  • “Professor for a Day,” The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 1985, given to honor alumni of achievement.

    

  • St. Louis Artist’s Guild Juried show of Fine Crafts, liturgical banners, textiles, honorable mention, July, 1987.

 

  • Storm on The Desert, Harcourt, 1997, Honor Book, Society of School Librarians International, 1997.

 

  • Storm on The Desert, Harcourt, 1997, one of seven honor books on the John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers, the American Museum of Natural History, New York.

 

  • Member of the 1998 YMCA National Writer’s Voice Readings Tour, along with Terry Tempest Williams, George Plimpton, and others.

 

  • Science Writer’s Fellowship, at the Marine Biological Laboratories, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, summer 1999.

            

  • The Fred Karush Endowed Library Readership, at the Marine Biological 

                Laboratories, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, summer 2000.

 

  • Distinguished Alumni Award, The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, October 2000, Oshkosh, Wisconsin.    

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