In case you missed it, yesterday's book review of Planting the Wild Garden was part of Peachtree Publishers Fins, Wings and Other Things blog tour. Today, I'm thrilled to be taking part again in the tour with this post about the book's illustrator, Wendy Anderson Halperin.
When the great people over at Peachtree Publishers invited me to be a part of their Fins, Wings and Other Things blog tour, I immediately accepted. While accepting their invitation was very easy, it was another thing to try and decide which book to review for this tour. All of the books looked terrific, but I eventually decided on Planting the Wild Garden solely because illustrator, Wendy Halperin lives in Michigan.
And wow, did I make an excellent choice! Not only was the book amazing (again, here's the review), but yesterday I had the opportunity to talk on the phone with Wendy. I originally had questions written out for an interview, but almost immediately, my plans went to the wayside as Wendy and I hit it off right away. We ended up talking for almost 40 minutes on a variety of topics including gardening, children, and drawing.
Besides being an incredibly gifted illustrator, Wendy Halperin has another gift --- teaching young children how to draw. As soon as she began working on Planting the Wild Garden, (a 2 year project), she became fascinated with the world of plants and their unique challenges. Halperin wanted to share this world with children and quickly began teaching children how to draw seeds and their traveling systems. Over the past two years, she has initiated many plant and nature-related drawing projects with young children. "The nice thing about working with children and gardens is they are shorter and closer to the ground. They love to get their hands dirty and look at a worm and say, "What's this!" Kids go crazy in gardens, it's just perfect!!"
Halperin's excitement about this new project was evident in our conversation. She eagerly shared with me some of the things she learned about seeds and their traveling systems. Of particular interest and fascination for her was the coconut, which can travel over 5,000 miles and has enough water and food inside of it to sustain itself until it can settle and begin its growth into a coconut tree.
Now with the release of Planting the Wild Garden, Halperin has dedicated an area of her website for Drawing Children Into Nature and will be posting nature journals from young students in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She is currently developing material on plant-based drawing for preschool children. Right now, there are three instructional DVDs developed on how to draw garden plants.
I was enthralled by Wendy Halperin's enthusiasm and passion for her work with children. Before saying our goodbyes, I had a last second question for her: "Which of your books is your favorite?"
Her response: "My favorite is always the one I'm working on right now. It has to be."
I couldn't help but smile as I just recently had heard this from another amazing author/illustrator.
Wendy Anderson Halperin has illustrated over twenty-five books, including Thank You, God, For Everything
Wendy lives with her husband, John, in South Haven, Michigan. They have three children.
