The Picture Book Buzz - Interview w/Janna Matthies, Ashley Wolff, Review of My Towering Tree
Janna Matthies’ early years consisted of inventing stories on her cassette recorder, practicing piano and violin (preferably by moonlight), and searching the garden for additions to her bug collection. Today she’s a picture book author and early-elementary music teacher in Indianapolis, where her gardening interests have turned to flowers and vegetables.
Janna holds a BA from Northwestern University and is a long-time participant in the Indiana SCBWI. She also edits the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s “Teddy Bear Concerts” picture book series. When not reading, writing, or gardening, you’ll find Janna on long walks with her family and howling husky, Juneau.
Her books include Here We Come! illustrated by Christine Davenier (2022); God's Always Loving You, illustrated by Airin O'Callahan (2021); Two Is Enough, illustrated by Tuesday Mourning (2015); The Goodbye Cancer Garden, illustrated by Kristi Valiant (2011); Peter, the Knight with Asthma, illustrated by Anthony Lewis (2009); and Monster Trucks, illustrated by Gene Barretta (2009).
Ashley Wolff always drew and made small books when she was young. Two of her favorite things to draw were princesses and horses but she was not afraid to steal plot elements from the Brothers Grimm. Later, at her Vermont high school, she spent all her spare time in Mr. Field’s art room, where she felt most at home.
Then on to Rhode Island School of Design where her favorite class was life drawing, along with painting, printmaking, woodworking, jewelry making and lots of art history. When Ashley took an illustration class called Picture & Word, she knew she had found what she really loved. The lessons learned in that class inspired her first book: A Year of Birds, and still influence her today.
Since that first book was published in 1984, she has authored or illustrated over 40 books for children, including Raffi’s Baby Beluga and the Miss Bindergarten series. While she loves exploring different visual techniques, some things remain constant. You won’t find many airplanes, tractors, or trucks in her stories, but you can always count on lots of color, animals, children, and a love of nature.
Ashley is the author/illustrator of Wildfire! (2021), How to Help a Pumpkin Grow (2021), Only the Cat Saw (2020), Where, Oh Where, Is Baby Bear? (2017), and Baby Bear Sees Blue (2014). She’s the illustrator of Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar? by Bonnie Lass & Philemon Sturges (2021), Mama's Milk / Mamá me alimenta by Michael Elsohn Ross (2016), In the Canyon by Liz Garton Scanlon (2015), Miss Bindergarten and the Very Wet Day (Penguin Young Readers, Level 2) by Joseph Slate (2015), and Compost Stew by Mary McKenna (2014),
Their newest picture book, My Towering Tree, releases on August 27th.
Welcome Janna and Ashley,
Thank you for having us, Maria!
Hi Maria, thank you for your intriguing questions. Even a simple one like what is my favorite type of book has complicated answers.
Tell us a little about yourselves. (Where/when do you write or illustrate? How long have you been writing or illustrating? What is your favorite type of book to write or illustrate? )
JANNA - I have written stories and poems since childhood, starting with reciting them into a tape recorder, and then jotting them down (with illustrations, of course) as soon as I could write. Today I absolutely love writing picture books and watching the combined power of words and visual art bring a story to life. My favorite place to write is in a cabin at The Highlights Foundation in the mountains of Pennsylvania...but my cozy and bright home-office works, too.
ASHLEY - Like many authors, my first book was autobiographical. I had an idyllic rural upbringing in Vermont and my book, A Year of Birds was close to the real thing.
But I grew up in town and walked or rode my bike to school. I envied the kids who I rode a school bus, so my character does and I always wanted to have a pond, so I added one in the book.
I returned to my home state after 34 years living in San Francisco. It was a fun, stimulating place to live and I enjoyed raising two sons there in such a multicultural environment.
Vermont is so different in every way but now, instead of just a pond, I have a whole lake in my front yard!
It is so nice to "meet" you both and get to know a little more about you. What is one of the most fun or unusual places where you’ve written or illustrated a manuscript?
JANNA - This summer my husband and I hiked St. Cuthbert's Way, a 62-mile trail in the Scottish lowlands. At the midpoint, which was also the highest point, I called a timeout for thirty minutes so I could sit in the rippling grass and write. The setting was 360-degrees of green, with a valley down below and sheep dotting the hills like pretzel salt. The resulting poem isn't a manuscript yet, but I'm certain a picture book text will arise from that moment at some point.
ASHLEY - The setting of a book is always intriguing. I left Vermont and moved west to San Francisco. I lived there for 34 years. Of course, I became obsessed with western landscapes and monuments.
I claimed it for my own by setting books in lightly fictionalized versions of San Francisco, CA (Stella and Roy,) Yosemite National Park, CA (Stella and Roy Go Camping), and New Mexico (A Garden Alphabet by Isabel Wilner, Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar? By Philemon Sturges and Bonnie Lass, She’ll be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain, and A Pinata for the Pinon Tree by Philemon Sturges).
The most intense experience was hiking down into and photographing the Grand Canyon, AZ in order to illustrate Liz Garton Scanlon’s book In the Canyon.
My sister and I hiked down to the river and back in one day-a journey that is strongly discouraged by park officials!
Love that for you both it was a hike. Ashley, having done 3/4 of that hike, I think I agree with the park rangers (especially if trying in it late June). Janna, what was your inspiration or spark of interest for My Towering Tree? Would you say that it is roughly formatted after The House that Jack Built?
JANNA - I didn't set out to write a cumulative story like The House that Jack Built, but once it was completed, I saw that's where I'd landed.
Just like many families ended up with a pandemic puppy, many writers have a pandemic story—this is mine. I sat in my backyard during the isolation period when all our worlds and circles suddenly became very small. The skyscraping size of my 100-year-old poplar caught my eye. Thus began the poem that now is a book: "In my yard's a towering tree. / It reaches high to cover me. / I lie beneath the towering tree / and think my thoughts and breathe and be." It was a meditation on the beauty right in front of my nose. And, like the sun beaming through the branches (referred to as "arms of Love" in the text), a personal reminder that God was even bigger than both the good and bad surrounding me.
Sounds like a very needed and comforting moment. Ashley, what about the My Towering Tree manuscript appealed to you as an illustrator?
ASHLEY - A couple of years ago I recognized an emerging genre among picture books labeled “Mental Wellness.”
COVID and the general stress of modern life have made many children feel more anxious and, maybe, just maybe, books that center children in nature can help.
This seemed just such a book.
I agree with you. So, what was the hardest or most challenging thing for you each of you about writing or illustrating My Towering Tree?
JANNA – Honestly, this was one of those manuscripts that just flowed and was in nearly final form within a couple sittings...which is NOT the norm. My agent sent it to Allyn Johnston at Beach Lane Books, who had published my Here We Come!, and she acquired it right away. The hardest part was probably waiting for the right illustrator to be found by Allyn and co-editor Andrea Welch, who took the project from there. Ashley Wolff as illustrator was worth the wait!
ASHLEY - Janna’s spare, first-person narrator script left a lot up to me, and at first, I was daunted by the number of choices.
I had to make so many decisions: who is speaking, where do they live, what kind of tree, is there a house, does time pass?
Sometimes when I have too many choices I get paralyzed. That happened with this book until I found my main character and then the other decisions followed.
As writers, we are told to leave the illustrator room . . . I doubt many appreciate how huge a challenge that can actually be for the illustrator. Janna, how many revisions did My Towering Tree take for the text from first draft to publication?
JANNA - I made some tweaks in word choice before submitting the manuscript. Again, it was an unusually simple process. Once Beach Lane acquired it, the only edit I recall was in the title. As Ashley completed her paintings, she noted the deep kinship between the girl (main character) and the tree. The original title was THE Towering Tree, which Ashley suggested changing to MY Towering Tree. We all agreed that was the way to go.
Interesting. Thank you for the insight into the title! Ashley, many illustrators leave treasures or weave their own story (or elements) throughout the illustrations. Did you do this in My Towering Tree? If so, could you share one or more with us?
ASHLEY - One dimension of a book often taken for granted is: how much time is passing during this story?
Our girl is alert and sensitive to the world around her and I decided that time does need to pass so she can notice changes. I added a robin family to help me illustrate this concept.
Robins live everywhere and are instantly recognizable, so If a Robin with a strand of grass appears on the cover, then it follows that a nest, three blue eggs, and eventually fledgling robins must appear!
Great logic and as a birder, I love this representation of time passing. Janna, when you first saw Ashley’s illustrations in My Towering Tree, did anything surprise, amaze, or delight you? Which is your favorite spread?
JANNA - The cover captured me before I even opened the book. I love the birds-eye view, which positions us at the tippy-top of the towering tree and leads us down to the main character's zone. There's almost a nostalgic feeling in that cover, a Mr. Roger's Neighborhood kind of vibe. It invites the reader to enter the book, eager to discover what's inside.
Text © Janna Matthies, 2024. Image © Ashley Wolff. 2024.
My favorite spread shows our crazy squirrel scampering from left to right in nearly life-size proportions. Kids are going to love this page!
I love the squirrel's face. Ashley, is there a spread that you were especially excited about or proud of? Or perhaps one which is your favorite spread?
Text © Janna Matthies, 2024. Image © Ashley Wolff. 2024.
ASHLEY - I have TWO! There are consecutive spreads in the middle where our girl is musing and drawing in her notebook. They are my faves because I came of age in a trompe l’oeil mural tradition. Trompe L’oeil means to fool the eye in French. The two spreads I love use a close up POV and well-placed shadows to fool the eye.
I love the girl's art and the simple text in these journal entries. What's something you both want your readers to know about or gain from My Towering Tree?
JANNA - This book is really about mindfulness...paying attention to the beauty as close as our own yards, the creatures we often overlook, the moments we race by when life is clipping along at its usual pace. Paying attention—counting blessings, in a sense—leads to gratefulness, which makes way for hope and peace. I'd love readers to be reminded to slow down and soak in the wonder that is all around.
ASHLEY - The very elements of this story that challenged me at the beginning of this project such as the limited setting, the lack of much action and the quiet ending were the very things that I ended up loving the most.
I am not a patient person. I crave complications but I know that slowing down, looking around, musing, drawing, wondering and appreciating are all things I should do more of.
I hope the child reader will appreciate these elements too and find this a comforting book to come back to again and again.
We all do need to slow down and wonder and marvel at nature. Are there any new projects soon to be released or which you are working on now that you can share a tidbit with us?
JANNA - Yes! Also in the outdoorsy category, my picture book Over in the Garden, illustrated by Tisha Lee, releases from Doubleday on March 18, 2024 (pre-orders are open). This book features a troupe of little gardeners reviving a community garden, in a remix of the counting folk song, "Over in the Meadow." And in the fall of 2025, Baby, Let's Go to the Orchestra, illustrated by Monique Felix, will be released by Creative Editions. It's a collection of short poems about musical instruments and the experience of attending a concert.
ASHLEY - I am hard at work on my next picture book. Diesel engines figure prominently.
Intriguing. We'll have to keep our eyes open for these books. Last question, what is your favorite National Park or Forest, regional park, or city park? Or the one you’re longing to visit. Why?
JANNA - Great question! Being a Midwesterner, I absolutely love Sleeping Bear Dunes National lakeshore near Traverse City Michigan—trees, sand dunes and crystal-clear water. With towering trees on my mind lately, I've recently been longing to visit Redwood National Park.
© Michael C. Viray
ASHLEY - I am the proud owner of a Golden Eagle Pass and there are so many National parks I have still to visit. Lucky me, I live in the Green Mountain National Park and enjoy every minute!
Thank you Janna & Ashley for sharing with us a bit about yourselves and your new picture book.
To find out more about Janna Matthies, or to contact her:
Website: https://www.jannamatthies.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janna.matthies/
To find out more about Ashley Wolff, or to contact her:
Website: https://ashleywolff.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashley_wolff_art/
Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/AshleyWolffArt
Review of My Towering Tree
This beautiful, rhyming picture book encourages kids and adults to take some time to pause, watch, and listen to all the wonders that surround us.
My Towering Tree
Author: Janna Matthies
Illustrator: Ashley Wolff
Publisher: Beach Lane Books (2024)
Ages: 0-8
Fiction
Themes:
Nature, slowing down, joy, mediation, rhyming, and observation.
Synopsis:
Discover all the joyful moments and adventures waiting right outside your door in this mindful rhyming picture book celebration of backyard nature.
In my yard’s a towering tree. It reaches high to cover me. I lie beneath the towering tree and think my thoughts, and breathe, and be.
There is much to do and so much to see beneath the branches of a towering tree! Step inside a leafy backyard world where squirrels are zipping, bees are buzzing, the sun is shining, and a curious, creative child is noticing and absorbing it all. This tribute to the wonderful worlds that exist in a backyard invites readers to stop, take a breath, and appreciate the natural world around them.
Opening Lines:
In my yard’s a towering tree.
It reaches high to cover me.
I lie beneath the towering tree
and think my thoughts
and breathe . . .
and be.
What I LOVED about this book:
I love how the colorful opening and the next three spreads set the scene of a girl enjoying her yard in the summer as she watches robins build a nest and a squirrel scurry about the branches, then takes a moment to just 'be.' As a bee swoops in to watch her. It's a fun visual moment that joins the text in a bit of humorous word play.
Text © Janna Matthies, 2024. Image © Ashley Wolff. 2024.
As the girl watches, and records in her notebook, the squirrel's and bee's antics across her yard, the cumulative text builds like that in The House That Jack Built, showing us her yard, the garden, and the yummy treats growing there.
Text © Janna Matthies, 2024. Image © Ashley Wolff. 2024.
In my yard’s a buzzy bee.
It pollinates so happily
the veggies in
my garden bed,
which overflow
in green and red
and feed the squirrel
(and also me)
who races up
the towering tree
that reaches high
to cover me.
The text shifts slightly, when in a very child-like fashion it introduces a painted grave marker - "In my yard’s a squarish stone/ reminding me, I’m not alone./ (My dog’s there,/ buried with his bone.)" It's a touching and poignant moment with a slightly altered refrain to put the focus on the girl leaning against the stone. And sets up the reader for the second half of the book and the girl's soft meditative moments. I love the subtle movement Ashley brings to this restful, quiet moment with the fuchsia-colored swoop of the bee's trail which matches the girl's jacket. Kid's will have fun tracing the bee's trail throughout the book.
Text © Janna Matthies, 2024. Image © Ashley Wolff. 2024.
As the girl enjoys the warmth and tickle of the sunshine, the baby robins hatch and we are treated to gorgeous, luminous illustrations with multiple points of view of the life occurring around and within the tree. And as Ashley mentioned above, three tiny, fuzzy robin fledglings on the dedication page. It's a loving, beautiful, picture book filled with a gentle rhythm and wonder of life, that surrounds us if we just pause long enough to notice.
Resources:
make a handprint robin, your own towering tree, or a robin playset.
take a notebook or piece of paper and find a comfy spot to be in your yard, balcony, along a hiking trail, or in a park. Draw, or write down, any birds, animals, or plants you see? What do you hear? What can you feel? What can you smell?
while you're outside, gather some items that catch your attention and make a suncatcher. Hang it in a sunny spot and lie in the colorful sunbeam it creates.
do you have a favorite red and green fruit and vegetable? If you could grow a garden, what would you grow?
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