Meet Carol Ann
Carol Ann writes funny, heartfelt picture books for children who feel deeply, wonder hard, and notice more than grown-ups realize.
Her stories are full of humor, tenderness, memorable characters, and big emotional questions — the kind children carry long before they have all the words for them. She is especially drawn to stories about identity, belonging, assumptions, emotional flexibility, and the wonderfully messy work of being human.
Carol Ann is represented by Lindsey Aduskevich at Martin-Newens Literary Management.
Stories with heart, humor, and room for the whole mess
Carol Ann writes picture books alongside her ongoing work as a therapist, educator, speaker, and clinical supervisor. For nearly two decades, she has listened closely to people’s stories — work that continues to shape the stories she tells for children.
As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Carol Ann has worked with children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families across many settings. She brings to children’s literature a deep respect for children’s inner worlds — their fears, questions, contradictions, fierce opinions, tiny heartbreaks, giant joys, and excellent nonsense.
Her writing takes kids seriously without making everything too serious.
Seeing the world differently
Carol Ann is legally blind because of an inherited retinal condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa. Living with vision loss has shaped the way she experiences the world, thinks about difference, and understands what it means to be seen.
That perspective often shows up in her interest in identity, assumptions, belonging, and the gap between how others perceive us and who we know ourselves to be. It has also deepened her belief that limitations do not have to erase creativity, ambition, humor, joy, or wonder.
Professional background
Carol Ann is the co-founder and co-owner of Northstar Counseling Center, a large female-owned and operated group mental health practices in Kentucky, and Northstar Learning Lab, a continuing education organization serving mental health clinicians in Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee.
She has taught as an Adjunct Professor in the Couple and Family Therapy Program at the University of Louisville’s Kent School of Social Work and Family Science and has provided training, mentorship, and clinical supervision to graduate students and mental health professionals. Her professional work has included trauma-informed care, relationship education, emotional wellness, compassion fatigue, clinician development, and family systems.
Carol Ann received the 2021–2022 Dean’s Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Louisville’s Raymond A. Kent School of Social Work and Family Science. She earned her Master of Science in Social Work with a Marriage and Family Therapy specialization from the University of Louisville and her Bachelor of Science in Family and Consumer Sciences from the University of Kentucky.
Writing life
Carol Ann is a member of SCBWI Midsouth. She was named a 2026 PBParty finalist and a 2026 PB Rising Stars runner-up, receiving a mini mentorship with award-winning author Ana Siqueira. She has also participated in Vivian Kirkfield’s #50PreciousWords International Writing Contest.
Her love of stories started early. In kindergarten, she received a Young Author Award for a story she remembers as 100 Reasons I Didn’t Do My Homework, which may have been an early clue to her lifelong love of humor, voice, and playful absurdity. At sixteen, her first job was as a Library Page at the Louisville Free Public Library’s Iroquois branch, where she deepened her love of books, libraries, and the people who help stories find readers.
Beyond the page
When she is not writing, sitting with clients, mentoring clinicians, or creating educational resources, Carol Ann can usually be found reading picture books, tending to an increasingly ambitious garden, cheering on other professionals, or planning her next family adventure with her husband and son.
She loves international travel, and some of her favorite memories include snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, bartering for textiles off the coast of Panama, ziplining over the rainforest in Ecuador, sampling every croissant she encountered in Paris, launching a lost-phone recovery mission in Ireland, and reindeer sledding in Norway.
Her experiences as a therapist, educator, supervisor, advocate, traveler, mother, and person living with vision loss continue to inspire stories that help children feel understood, encouraged, and a little more connected to themselves and the world around them.