So, I pulled together five or six story ideas, and at the last minute, sort of on a whim, I tacked on this family story. It came about as somewhat of a surprise! When I’d finished doing Miss Maple’s Seeds, my editor, Nancy Paulsen, invited me to send her a few one-paragraph book pitches, and said she’d give me feedback on them. What made you rethink your notion that the story was too personal for publication as a trade picture book? It’s funny, even before I got into making children’s books, I came across a story I’d written for a third-grade school assignment, about my grandmother’s childhood! I always had this notion I’d make a little book just to share with family, since it was so personal. When I first thought of doing a picture book about my grandmother’s early life, I never, ever considered it would be for a wider audience. When it did occur to you that you wanted to tackle telling your grandmother’s story in words and pictures? It was also easy to feel connected to her story, since the place where she lived in the shack is only about 10 miles from where we were growing up-so the landscape was very similar. We all loved play-acting her life as child. We had a lot of cousins nearby who were also often at her house, and we all listened to our grandmother talk about her childhood, and about “That Game” that she and her siblings always played. Did your own childhood memories of hearing this family story come into play as you wrote and illustrated Home in the Woods?ĭefinitely! I grew up right next door to my grandparents in the tiny town of Solon Springs, Wis., and my brothers and I spent a lot of time with my Grandma, who cared for us after school and when we were sick.
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