Kehret was born on November 11, 1937 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Her family and she moved to Austin, Minnesota in 1944. In 1949, at the age of twelve, Kehret was diagnosed with polio and spent the next nine months of her life in hospitals. She made a full recovery, and in 1954 graduated from high school. She married Carl Kehret on July 2, 1955, and they moved to California and adopted two children, Anne and Bob. Her first children's book, Winning Monologs for Young Actors, was published in 1985. In 1986, Kehret won her first Children's Book Award. Kehret currently lives in Washington.