Karen McGuigan Brothers recently retired from the Reading and Writing Development Center at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio. For nearly 30 years, she served as the liaison for parents and teachers inquiring about participation in the Centers testing and tutoring programs in reading and also coordinated the setting up of those programs. Through exposure to childrens literature at the Center, as well as her experience as a mother and grandmother, she became familiar with what subject matter appeals to children and incorporates that into her poetry. In addition to co-authoring Poems for Word Study, she has written childrens poems for numerous other publications.