Karen Hesse uses many books to get ideas. She also uses other authors and magazines. Kate Torpie (2003) says, .".. the voice of Ester. It seems to obviously based on...Opal Whitley." These various amounts of sources come from many places. Most of these stories were about tragedies, deaths and the history. Although sad, Karen Hesse ties the past to fiction with intense imagination.

Although Hesse's stories are mostly about the negativity of the past, it shows how important life is. In the book, Witness, Hesse shows examples of how all people treasure life in their own way. In the book Witness, it says how Merlin was about to poison the Sutter's well, he stopped looked at Leanora, and ran away. This shows although he agreed to do the poisoning, he couldn't. Merlin, couldn't let himself kill the Sutter family. A student (1996) says, "You have to look deep in...