Be honest. It's February, and those ferocious New Year's Resolutions have crashed. You haven't lost 12 pounds, exercised for 30 minutes daily or cleaned the closets. Me either. Change-worthy improvement, however, is still possible. I realized this at Starbuck's. If you stand there long enough, you'll find wisdom. On the cup sleeves beside me were…

The Chinese are credited with a valuable tenet about learning. Maggie's kindergarten teacher Ms. Spry practiced it perfectly. In her capable hands, education was an art form that proved the lasting worth of this quotation. In November, to help them experience the Pilgrims' Mayflower journey, each child was assigned to be a real person from…

I'm always searching for signs. When I can string together enough curiosities to see a pattern, I announce I've found a truth. When I looked back on the past year, I finally saw it. Inside my own head, I found a curious pattern, and, like it or not, I have to accept its truth. Twice…

Dear Everyone, The Chinese offer these important words: “May you be born in a time of transition.” You’re left to decide if it’s a blessing or a curse. Whichever, that’s squarely where we are at present—in transition, closing and opening doors. After 41 years in education, Cliff retired in June. In terms of teaching…

Tara Lazar invited me to write a post for her 2014 Picture Book Idea Month Challenge in November. Typically authors and illustrators offer helpful, encouraging strategies or as Maggie might explain: "magical-rainbow-universe stuff." I told my hard truth. An overwhelming 500+ people commented. So I turned out to have been helpful and encouraging after all. http://taralazar.com/2014/11/04/piboidmo-day-4-karen-henry-clark-gets-derailed-but-travels-on-plus-a-prize/ PICTURE…

I began with the best intentions when I walked Maria the other day. I cleared my mind of grocery lists, crabgrass removal, our daughter's mounting school deadlines. I strolled along and welcomed the day. That worked for a few blocks. Next thing I knew, I puzzled over dinner. Didn't I just make chicken and pasta…

I think I know almost everything. Even so, I believe if I googled one more thing or finished one more book or attended one more conference, I'd discover the truth. The ultimate answer. The pivotal secret. The knowledge that would allow me to sashay down a straight and narrow road with white doves fluttering beside…

I'm no more adept at exercise now than when this was published by the Milwaukee Journal Magazine 23 years ago. Unfortunately. I was in trouble. Electronic music crashed off the walls while fiercely determined women charged into place. Never had I seen so much Spandex. And bodies, bodies everywhere, in neon flashes and waves and…

When I grew up, all seventh-grade girls took Home Economics. No questions asked. Yes, we were encouraged to attend college, but not for any sense of personal ambition. The assumption was that we would all marry but might need a profession to fall back on in case the husband died young and we became sole…

Back when I wanted a career in journalism, this was my first serious piece for the Milwaukee Journal Magazine. When Reader's Digest reprinted it, I was astonished. I even received fan mail. Now that I have a teenaged daughter, I read myself with even greater interest. People say teenagers are no good. They make too…

Fifth graders have life figured out. Every spring my husband Cliff, an elementary school principal, invites his fifth graders, five at a time, into his office for milk and cookies. Information from these chats is used in the final assembly, attended by parents, to honor their children's time at the lower school campus. He says…

Almost no one has ever spent time in Oklahoma. Whenever people ask about my life, and I mention my time in the state, they nod and say, "I passed through once on my way to Dallas/Los Angeles/Memphis. Not much there." I can't disagree. The Indians, who were marched in on The Trail of Tears from…

I know she looks like a statue to you. But she has a story. It begins with Maggie's hardest year in grade school. The teacher was not adept at creating community spirit, so chaos prevailed. Whenever I volunteered to help with a classroom project, Maggie ran to me as I arrived and held on for…

I spend a lot of time at Target. It has socks and celery and Starbucks in one place. But more than simple shopping, I sometimes roam the store for inspiration, for head-clearing color. Because I spend so much time alone as a writer, moving mindlessly down their carefully arranged aisles of details has a therapeutic…

For me the jury will always be out on Facebook. I'm not really a picture poster of my morning walk or my pot of soup or my new shoes. Still, through Facebook I've been found by great people who have been absent from my life for decades. I've read some interesting articles I wouldn't have…

Children come easily into the lives of some people. That was not the case for Cliff and me. Armed with a wing and a prayer, we ended up on the roller coaster ride of international adoption in the 1990s. China had their rules. The United States had theirs. Our job was to send countless notarized…