Karen Jo Shapiro was born in Andover, Massachusetts. She earned a BA in English and Spanish from Colby College and her PsyD from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology. Her children’s poetry draws on canonical poems and verse traditions, spiking them with humor and play. Her books include Because I Could Not Stop My Bike and Other Poems (illustrated by Matt Faulkner, 2003) and I Must Go Down to the Beach Again (2007). Kathleen Whalin for School Library Journal notes that Shapiro “knows the sources through and through and that she is quite a good poet in her own right. ... The book is a gold mine for teachers wanting to illustrate command of certain poetic elements, and Shapiro’s endnotes on her choice of poets and poems are most thoughtful.” 

Shapiro is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and the Association of Booksellers for Children. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children.