The Picture Book Buzz - 2026 Interview with Eliza Wheeler

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.

One side of Eliza's artwork focuses on creating fantastical, bright, and cozy story worlds, while the other side dives into historical & biographical stories with big heart. She was a recipient of the Sendak Fellowship Award in 2017 and has illustrated numerous books for children. Eliza grew up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, lived for a time beside the hills of Los Angeles, and now resides near the lakes of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Eliza’s the author/illustrator of A Cozy Winter Day (2024), A Home in the Woods (2019) and Miss Maple's Seeds (2013).  And she is the illustrator of 12 books, including What Rosa Brought by Jacob Sager Weinstein (2023), When I'm With You by Pat Zietlow Miller (2022), This Is Our Baby, Born Today Board by Varsha Bajaj (2019), Cody and the Rules of Life by Tricia Springstubb (2018), Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real by Marc Tyler Nobleman (2018), and John Ronald's Dragons: The Story of J. R. R. Tolkien by Caroline McAlister (2017).

For more information on Eliza Wheeler, see our previous interview (here).

Her author/illustrator picture book, A Cozy Summer Day, was released on May 26^th.

Welcome back Eliza, I am so happy to get to chat with you about your newest book.

Thanks for having me back to share!

Is there an author or illustrator (children’s or otherwise) who has had an influence on your writing or creativity?

So very many. Illustrator Richard Scarry’s ‘Busytown’ books were and still are hugely influential to me as a kid and grown up artist and were an inspiration for building my own world for the COZY series. And Margaret Wise Brown’s writing also guides me along for picture book writing. Both of these references are older and classic ones, of course, but they’re timelessly playful in such masterful ways.

I've always loved just sitting and soaking in the action of a Richard Scary book. What was your inspiration or spark of interest for A Cozy Summer Day?

Again, so many inspirations converged for this one, but mainly the feeling of childhood summers was what I wanted to capture the most. I grew up in rural Northern Wisconsin right next door to my grandparent’s small business, the ‘Swansons Motel Cabins & Campground’. Families leased their campground plots for the whole summer so the place would come alive with all their different camping and RV set-ups. It looked so magical to me! I built the world of Acorn Village to feel very much the way that place felt to me.

What a fun way to recapture that memory. As the sequel to A Cozy Winter Day, was A Cozy Summer Day harder or easier to write and/or illustrate? What were some of the differences in creating these two books?

In some ways it was easier because I didn’t have to build the world and characters from scratch, and in other ways it was equally hard. I had originally written the book as a vacation to the seaside and had fully written and story-boarded that version out. When my editor Nancy Paulsen suggested that readers might prefer to stay in Acorn Village and see what summer is like in this place they fell in love with in A Cozy Winter Day, I knew she was right and so scrapped most of it to start over.

I really enjoyed exploring Acorn Village in the winter; I am glad you set their summer adventure here, too. You have such a great talent to make this village come to life! Which was the hardest or most challenging part of writing or illustrating for A Cozy Summer Day? And what was the most fun?

Getting the orders of the scenes to work was a real challenge. It’s a book without a clean-cut story structure; instead, it’s about capturing the vibe and flow of a long hot summer day from start to finish. We went through a lot of rough drafts of moving the scene-order around before nailing it down to what you see now. The most fun thing was imagining all the ways coziness can apply to a hot-weather season and creating the little details in the costumes and scenery.

How many revisions did the text and/or illustrations of A Cozy Summer Day take from first draft to publication?

That’s a tough question; looking in my files I would say somewhere in the ballpark of 25-ish text drafts. It went through more major revisions in the beginning and gradually became more about fine-tuning later on. The illustration probably went through about 5 rounds of sketch drafts before I started the final art, and then a last round of revisions came after that.

Interesting. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. Is there a spread that you were especially excited about or proud of? Or perhaps one which is your favorite spread?

Text & Image © Eliza Wheeler, 2026

My favorite spread is where the Cozy kids are marching home after the swimming hole, and I used the fold of the composition to transition from a sunset to night-time scene. I also loved creating the village scenes on the back end-papers as a night scene to mirror the front end-papers in the morning.

Gorgeous. I love your end-papers and adore Acorn Village. Many illustrators leave treasures or weave special images (or elements) throughout the illustrations. Did you do this in A Cozy Summer Day? If so, could you share one or more with us?

Not really in terms of hiding any ‘Easter Eggs’, but I did try to connect fun things to the Cozy Winter book that kids might notice. For example, Hilda Hollow (the night owl) is on a writing journey in the first book, and in this book she’s reading her stories to the group around the nighttime campfire. I try to make all of the characters’ activities match with or build upon their personalities in each book.

Now I see why it took a while to get it all nailed down in the drafts. What's something you want your readers to know about A Cozy Summer Day?

I want readers to see opportunities to create their own unique coziness wherever they are, and to know that being cozy helps your body & brain feel more calm and safe. It might look like drifting on a floaty in the water on a hot day, or snuggling into a cozy nook for storytime on a rainy day, but small cozy moments can help us get through hard times.

What a wonderful thing to remember - look for the cozy moments in life. Are there any upcoming books or new projects you are working on now that you can share a tidbit with us?

I’ve been working on illustrations for a really neat book by Martha Brockenbrough called Darwin’s Orchids, about Charles Darwin’s illness and how his family & friends helped him with his work studying orchids and their pollinators. After that I’ll be headed back to Acorn Village to create some more coziness in the fall!

Intriguing! I look forward to seeing the book on Darwin and I can't wait for a coy fall book! Last question,  what animal or natural feature (place) do you want to learn more about? Why?

I’ve had a low-key obsession with Loons over the past 10 years – they are extremely cool birds and every fact I learn about them makes me want to learn more. They’re also my state’s bird and have become a much-loved symbol here in Minnesota.

Maybe one day, you'll create or illustrate a book about Loons - or they might get a cameo in the Fall book, if a haunting Loon call through the mist elicits cozy feelings. Thank you, Eliza, for sharing with us a bit about yourself and your new picture book.

Be sure to come back Friday for the Perfect Picture Book #PPBF review of A Cozy Summer Day.

To find out more about Eliza Wheeler. or to contact her:

Website: https://wheelerstudio.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wheelerstudio/

Substack: https://wheelerstudio.substack.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eliza.wheeler/