Karen Ritz is an illustrator with a degree in Children's Literature from the University of Minnesota. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design for summer classes as a high school student. She has illustrated over forty books, including Kate Shelley and the Midnight Express, a Public Television Reading Rainbow feature, Ellis Island, a 1995 Minnesota Book Award Winner, and the Gryphon Press book, Max Talks to Me. Her work is housed at the Children's Literature Research Collection at the University of Minnesota, and several of her books have been chosen for the annual Society of Illustrators Show in New York. Karen uses her thirty years of experience in the field to teach about Visual Language at the college and graduate levels. Karen lives and paints on the 30th floor in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, overlooking the Mississippi River.