19 Comments

4 year old you and 4 year old me (and 40-something me, honestly) have a lot in common! I was obsessed with the Berenstain Bears’ house and loved Richard Scarry.

Expand full comment
author

I love hearing that, Rebecca!! Hoping the 4-year olds of today will also relate 🤞

Expand full comment
Oct 18Liked by Eliza Wheeler

Congratulations on your gorgeous new book! I love how it looks and feels like even though I've only seen these posts about it yet. I'm from Finland and the lifestyle you describe resonates so much with me. Thank you for writing and illustrating it so beautifully in your book. Now that my kids are almost adults, I'll buy your book for my own inner 4-year old who loves illustrations like this. She'll be delighted!

I'm also an author illustrator myself and honor my seasons and cycles of creativity, so I also feel very drawn to the way you introduce the creative process here like growth of a plant.

May I borrow the structure of this post for my upcoming book that's now just in that phase where I'd need to express the creative journey?

We are now surrounded by gorgeously yellow forests here, sun is shining and it's a perfect day to get cozy, in hygge-style!

Expand full comment
author

Thank you so much E! I would be honored for your inner 4-year old to have the book. :)

Apologies for the late response, but of course please do go forth and use the plant growth analogy freely for your own project, I'm sure I haven't been the first to do so. Wishing you cozy (in Finnish...kodikas? teemyssy?) creative work this beautiful fall there! We've just lost about half of our tree leaves here in Minnesota. It's getting nice and spooky.

Expand full comment

4-year-old me was also obsessed with the idea of living in trees and creating animal worlds to explore, so I can't wait to read these books with my little guys! I love Cynthia Rylant's Thimbleberry Stories and Lighthouse Family series, and your Cozy collection sounds like it captures the same magic. As a therapist who works with trauma, I think it is so important to have warm, comforting, safe spaces for our kids (and our inner kids) to rest and enjoy. The hard stories are important too, but everyone needs a cozy retreat sometimes! I love how your inner 4-year-old inspired these new picture books. I have a similar story of my inner 8-year-old inspiring me to create my own version of the 100 Acre Wood. Thanks for welcoming us into your Cozy world. You are welcome to stop by my Mosswood (https://mosswood.substack.com/) if it strikes your fancy. :-) Best wishes on your book birthday!

Expand full comment

This is incredible, Eliza! I can't wait to read this with my two kiddos. We love all things cozy in our home, so this is going to be the perfect series to enjoy with them. We are also fans of "living in tree" stories, so I hope your stories will one day be a source of inspiration to them in their creativity! 😍

I have a question about your illustrating process. I know for this series and some of your other books, you have been the writer and illustrator. Would you mind sharing what it's like to work with your own ideas in your head versus working alongside an author to illustrate a story? What are the pros and cons of each? I'm an aspiring picture book writer and I'm so curious about what it's like to share creativity with another person to bring a story to life.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you Robin!! It’s great to hear you love these pieces too, and I hope your kiddos enjoy this one!

Also, thank you for the question and letting me know you’d like to hear me speak to this. I have a lot of thoughts and things I’ve learned, so I’ll put this on my list - it helps to know your interest is there. Maybe other writers will be also interested in hearing about this, from the illustrator’s perspective, too!

Expand full comment

Absolutely! I’m sure many others would! Thanks for giving thought to my question!

Expand full comment
Oct 15Liked by Eliza Wheeler

Woohoo! Many congrats! Thank you for giving such a great insight into the seeds and stages of this one--it's amazing to think of all the work that goes into picture books. And I can so relate to the innate pull of an anthropomorphic animal world! The "hooks" for me were a colorfully illustrated edition of The Wind in the Willows, and then, later, reading Redwall, which first set me dreaming of becoming a writer (and set the bar SO high for food writing). Similarly, I only recently discovered Jill Barklem's Brambly Hedge series, which I hope you'll check out if you haven't read it! High levels of coziness and animals-in-treehouses, all depicted with incredible artistic skill.

Also, mad respect for the '95 version of Sense & Sensibility. In my youth I ate an entire box of chocolates to that film. No regrets.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you so much R.C.! I love all this so much, so many good comments here. Re: 1. Wind in the Willows is such a fave and seasonal re-read. 2. I never read the Redwall series! I wasn’t a kid reader after picture books, so I have a lot of time to make up for in the young novel categories. They sound great! 3. I also recently discovered Barklem’s Brambly Hedge - my spouse got it for my birthday last year. I heartily agree - so gorgeous and cozy. 4. Mad respect for a full box of chocolates to S&S! 😂 Sounds like the best night ever.

Expand full comment
Oct 16Liked by Eliza Wheeler

If you've not heard of them, you might want to start with the two Redwall picture books illustrated by Christopher Denise! I have some of those pictures as my desktop backgrounds at work--luckily, my library coworkers get me. Naturally, Brambly Hedge is also in the mix. Hurray for good animal lit!

Congrats once again!

Expand full comment
author

Thank you for this rec! I will start there! So fun - thank you R.C.

Expand full comment

Happy happy book birthday! I'm so excited to add this to my Eliza collection!

Expand full comment
author

Yayyy, Jason June, thank you!! Your “Eliza Collection” 🤩🤩🤩

Expand full comment

Eliza~congratulations!!! I love the book! And this peek into the process, from seed to tree. You could have been writing about my 4 year old self, who was inspired by all the same things. And isn’t it wonderful to know that this book will go out and into other hearts to plant seeds and grow trees?? As all your books do?

Lots of love, and thanks for creating such a cozy picture book world! ❤️

Expand full comment
author

Awww, YES to all of this, K!! We definitely share cozy picture book loves and worlds (the Acorn Villagers need to take a trip out to visit Arlo and the gang!). Thank you for loving and sharing and supporting 💖

Expand full comment
Oct 15Liked by Eliza Wheeler

Congrats! And thank you for such a lovely look behind the scenes of illustrating a picture book. Love this!

Expand full comment
author

I’m so glad Missy, thank you!

Expand full comment
author

This is all beautiful, Susan - thank you very much! I love Cynthia Rylant’s picture book writing (especially ‘When I Was Young in the Mountains’) but was not familiar with Thimbleberry and Lighthouse Family series. As a child non-reader (after picture book ages), I missed a lot that I’m catching up on. Something I didn’t include here was that doing Somatic Experiencing therapy has been a big inspiration as well; learning about the part safety and comfort plays in childhood and on for developing better functioning nervous systems. Thank you for introducing yourself here, very nice to meet you and your Mosswood writings!

Expand full comment