Eliza Wheeler is an illustrator and author of books for kids, teens, and the young at heart. Her book Miss Maple’s Seeds was a NYT bestseller, and her book Home in the Woods was dubbed “Gorgeous” by the New York Times book review. Eliza is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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'HOME IN THE WOODS' Book Video
A behind-the-scenes video detailing the process of writing and illustrating Home in the Woods.
I’m joining in to spread the word about the debut young adult novel POISON, by the late Bridget Zinn. Bridget was from my hometown, and sadly died of cancer in 2011 at age 33 before she was able to see her novel reach publication. Her family and friends are helping to promote her new book on her behalf. I was in Jr. High when Bridget was graduating High School, so I only knew her from afar. My strongest memory of her was from when I had joined cross-country and we always watched and cheered for the high-schoolers’ races. Bridget came…
Miss Maple’s Seeds is coming out in 1 month (April 4, 2013), and I was so excited to see that Publisher’s Weekly posted the first review a few days ago! http://new.publishersweekly.com/978-0-399-25792-6 Here’s what they said: “Confident artistry and an intuitive knowledge of what the world looks like to a very small person make a winning combination in Wheeler’s debut. Miss Maple is a grandmotherly, Borrowers-sized woman who adopts “orphan seeds that got lost during the spring planting.” Dressed in a big straw hat and a billowing skirt, she marshals bluebirds to collect the seeds in baskets on their backs,…
Right now I’m knee deep in sketching for the picture book THE GRUDGE KEEPER, by author Mara Rockliff. It’s a folk-tale inspired story of the one man in town who collects everyone’s insults, umbrage, and petty complaints, filing them all away in his cottage. Mara’s manuscript is brilliant! It’s been exciting to be able to visualize this quirky world and characters that Mara has created. Here’s a little peek at my workspace while I’m sketching: Sketching is, for me, by far the most grueling stage in the illustration process. I will admit that I look forward to nailing down these…
One of the many things that I love about being a part of The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), is that with each conference and event I meet new wonderful writer/illustrator friends. This has become more significant since I’ve been a part of the Summer Conference Mentorship Award, in 2010. I’ve made some of my closest illustrator friends, Debbie Ohi, Kimberly Gee, and Andrea Offermann during my year being mentored, and we created the Kidlit Artists group blog. Each year new mentees receive the award, and our circle of friends gets bigger. To help us all connect,…