Karen Mccombie - Children's Author

Karen McCombie grew up in Aberdeen, Scotland, where she learnt to walk at an angle of 45 degrees against the biting north wind. Her hobbies were drawing, keeping scrapbooks, writing short stories and wearing thermal underwear (except for the three days in summer when it was warm). Her primary-school teacher, Miss Thompson, once told Karen that she should be an author when she grew up. Karen thinks Miss Thompson was only trying to be nice, but is very, very glad she turned out to be right.

As an adult, Karen studied graphic design and communication, before landing a job as a trainee magazine journalist at a Scottish publisher. A few years later, she packed up all her worldly possessions and cat, Cecy, and headed to London for a job with teen magazine Just 17. She worked for several other magazines - including Sugar - before she thought about trying to write a book. She still lives in London, writing books for a living (hurray!), surrounded by cats as well as a husband, who likes to type silly lines into her stories when she's not looking. Karen and her husband have a lovely little daughter called Milly, who thinks her mum's job is to make Playdough cookies.

As an artist, Karen is the author of the best-selling Ally's World series, as well as the Stella Etc. books and Marshmallow Magic and the Wild Rose Rouge. She's also written several books for older teens, including My Funny Valentine and In Sarah's Shadow. Karen loves writing and her fattest cat, Bysshe, loves to watch her writing. The only problem is, he likes to get right up close, and often the keyboard disappears under folds of ginger fur as Bysshe settles himself down for a purr and a stare.

Image Copyright 2011 Barrington Stoke. Unauthorised use is prohibited.

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Featured Books, with extracts by Karen Mccombie

Sweetness and Lies
Karen Mccombie
Interest Age 8-12  Reading Age 8+ Brilliantly observed, this is a thoughtful story about truth and friendship. Tilly’s thrilled by her new friendship with Mia; she is chatty and funny and soon the two of them are Best Friends Forever –...
Featured in: 11+ readers | 9+ readers | Dyslexia-friendly
Format: Paperback - Released: 15/04/2013
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Candy Girl
Karen Mccombie
Interest Age 9+ Reading Age 8+. Hilarious comedy by a top author. Barrington Stoke specialise in books for reluctant, struggling and dyslexic readers.  To view other titles we think are suitable for reluctant readers please click here. A Dyslexia Friendly...
Featured in: 11+ readers | 9+ readers | Dyslexia-friendly | Reluctant Readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 22/11/2010
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Urgent Message Of Wowness
Karen Mccombie
A funky novel, complete with funky title and funky cover from a bestselling author who is just brilliant at getting under the skin of that nearly teen market. It’s bursting with humour and charm despite the sometimes fraught friendships between...
Featured in: 14+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 07/05/2007
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Bliss...
Karen Mccombie
Well-written and so true to life.  Teenage girls are lucky to have the opportunity to read books by an author who has her finger on the pulse of the teenage world. Easy to read and funny yet dealing with issues...
Featured in: 14+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 07/05/2007
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Indie Kidd
Karen Mccombie
Indie Kids best (est) friend Fee is very sad because her cat was run over. So, she goes all out to ‘cheer up Fee’ – but what Indie Kid hasn’t got yet is that Fee needs sometime to be glum...
Featured in: 5+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 01/05/2006
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The Dreaded Noodle-Doodles
Karen Mccombie
"Want to know a secret? There is something very, very strange living in the trees behind my house. If you tiptoe slowly and quietly (ssh!) to the bottom of my garden, you might hear it rustling and rootling and 'peh!'ing...
Featured in: 7+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 05/01/2012
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The Curse of the Jelly Babies
Karen Mccombie
"I never expected to be friends with a Thing. Well, you don't, do you? You usually think of friends being either boys or girls, or maybe even cute yappy dogs. Well, Thing certainly doesn't fit into any of those categories....
Featured in: 7+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 01/09/2011
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The Mummy That Went Moo
Karen Mccombie
Want to know a secret? There is something very, very strange living in the trees behind my house. If you tiptoe slowwwwly and quietly (ssh!) to the bottom of my garden, you might hear it rustling and rootling and 'peh!'ing...
Featured in: 7+ readers | 9+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 04/04/2013
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Running From The Rainbow
Karen Mccombie
Rosie Roberts has a secret. So when she moves to a new school, she's desperate not to draw too much attention to herself. But things aren't so easy when your mum is the popular new teacher everyone is talking about. From...
Featured in: 9+ readers | Dyslexia-friendly
Format: Paperback - Released: 13/06/2012
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The Legend of the Loch Ness Lilo
Karen Mccombie
Ruby and Jackson get the surprise of their lives when they discover a Thing living at the bottom of their gardens. But Thing is cute, and funny, even if sometimes when he's upset he gets a bit ARRGHH! And that's...
Featured in: 7+ readers | 9+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 05/07/2012
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