‘Where Do Fairies Go When It Snows?’ Author and Illustrator Interview

Book Reviews - Picture Books, Interviews, Interviews - Authors & Illustrators 23 comments

Everyone knows fairies love spring flowers and summer sun, but what happens when autumn comes and the days get shorter and colder? Now, Liza Gardner Walsh, (author of Fairy House Handbook and Fairy Garden Handbook), explores the matter in a children’s picture book of rhyming questions. Combined with delightful illustrations by Hazel Mitchell (Imani’s Moon, One Word Pearl, Animally), this whimsical book helps children discover just where fairies go when it snows and offers a subtle lesson about the importance of helping one another.

CoverBoth Liza and Hazel happen to live in Maine, a state in the northern U.S. where it snows A LOT! So it’s appropriate that they got together to create a book with a winter theme. Liza is pretty much an expert on fairies and fairy houses. And Hazel is from England where fairies really do exist! Here’s what they have to say on the matter of fairies …

Fairies 16aWhat season fairy would you most want to be?
LIZA: Summer, because I hear the parties are grand!
HAZEL: Spring, because I love to gather wildflowers.

What would be your fairy superpower?
LIZA: I would love to have the ability to swoop in and bestow good luck on a situation that needs it.
HAZEL: I would love to be able to talk to the animals and help them, just like the fairies in the book.

Have you ever seen a fairy?
LIZA: Not yet. I have tried all the tricks except making the ointment out of four leaf clovers, but I still haven’t seen one. I have felt chills on my neck in the garden though.
HAZEL: I think I might have. Once in England in a bluebell wood. They are the most magical woods in the world!
What is your favorite fairy story?
LIZA: That is tough one! I went through a stage of reading very old British fairy tales which were quite dark and beguiling but nothing can touch the love I have for Peter Pan.
HAZEL: Cinderella. Who doesn’t want a Fairy Godmother? She is the quintessential fairy. And I need new clothes and a carriage.

If you were a fairy and had a fairy pet companion, what would it be?
LIZA: Probably a firefly so I could read at night.
HAZEL: A squirrel so he would let me use his tail to paint.

Enter to win a winter fairy kit!

 

Win a personalized copy of ‘Where Do Fairies Go When It Snows?’ and a Winter Fairy Kit. Simply leave a comment telling us what season fairy you would be and why?

 UPDATE: Giveaway has ended.

 

 

Fairies 30-31

Liza Gardner Walsh, author
Liza Gardner Walsh, author

 

 

Liza Gardner Walsh has worked as a children’s librarian, pre-school teacher, high-school English teacher, writing tutor, museum educator, and she holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College. She lives with her family in Camden, Maine. http://www.lizagardnerwalsh.com

 

 

Hazel Mitchell, illustrator, and her friend Toby
Hazel Mitchell, illustrator, and her friend Toby

 

Award-winning illustrator of more than a dozen books, Hazel Mitchell grew up in England, where she attended art college and served in the Royal Navy before moving to the states in 2000. She lives in Detroit, Maine. http://www.hazelmitchell.com
Tweet@hazelgmitchell

 

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Where Do Fairies Go When It Snows? is published by Down East Books, Maine, an imprint of Rowman and Littlefield.
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23 comments

  7. I love this! What a great contest! I would definitely be of the Fall variety – bring on the pumpkin spice and colorful leaves – also I love the thought of waving a wand to make it crisp and chilly (but not too cold!). I never new I had so much “inner fairy” in me! xo

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