A Birch Tree’s Year follows a big birch tree in a family’s yard who shares its feelings on watching the family grow and the changing seasons of the year. What was the inspiration for your story?

I have always had a strong relationship with nature. It is a very personal connection, and I often feel that individual elements of nature speak to me directly. I strongly feel the change of seasons, too. It affects all my being and thinking.

In my childhood, I lived for a meaningful decade in the middle of the beautiful Finnish lake district. Since then, the detailed images of everything I have seen and experienced have been drawn into the depths of my soul.

I can still go to my favorite places in my imagination whenever I want to. I can imagine wandering in the middle of a blooming meadow near my home. From there, I collected over a hundred plants for school biology classes, dried and labeled them carefully in a folder.

Trees are one of my greatest joys in nature. I am happy about their diversity and the shelter they provide for the nesting birds with their branches. This is important for me, as I’m also a fan of birds and birdsong! 

Birch is an important tree for us Finns. It also has great symbolic value due to the sensitivity associated with it. This extraordinary tree changes with the seasons from a bare and stripped winter version to a plentiful and strong green summer birch tree. My favorite is the spring birch, which is just beginning to promise the arrival of summer by pushing out tiny light green buds.

What is your favorite season and why?

The substantial changes in the seasons in Finland mean a lot to me. This cycle of nature gives rhythm to the whole human life. Experiences in winter’s white, frozen nature are entirely different from those in the middle of blooming summer. Here is the richness of life!

However, I must admit that I am a spring and summer person. Especially that turning point is wonderful! Schools are ending, and summer vacations are ahead. People are full of dreams and plans. They think about traveling, meeting friends and relatives, digging and planting in gardens, walking in parks, and picking berries in the forest.

Spring and the beginning of summer are always intense experiences for me – year after year. I can’t help but admire the power of nature after winter. My ideal summer is as peaceful as possible. I need time to look at and listen to the blooming nature around me. I try to avoid traveling and doing too much work.

Of course, I can’t stop writing even in the summer. Then I have time to focus on a different kind of writing than in the winter. I always have some novels for adult readers in the making. But I don’t know how many summers it will take to complete them!

What were some educational aspects that were important for you to include in this children’s book?

I consider it essential that people and nature live in harmony with each other. It is good that children learn to respect nature in all its forms. Even that single tree next to the house can be very important to everyone living near it.

In my book, A Birch Tree’s Year, this connection between people, animals, and plants is examined by going through the life of the family, their house, and the yard around it in all months of the year. The point of view of the birch tree is emphasized because it offers quite a drama. There is the depression of autumn, the frosts of winter, the candles of Christmas, and finally, a new life at the dawn of spring with the pleasures of summertime to follow.

Although this is a fairy tale and can be taken just like that, I also want to highlight nature’s enormous power and influence on us humans. That union with the rest of nature is also a prerequisite for our well-being as people.

And it wouldn’t be bad at all if the children reading the fairy tale looked at the familiar yard tree with new eyes the next time. They could even experience its presence in a new, more sensitive way. 

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

I got very excited about this question because I have a lot of good news!

The fourth book in the familiar Fox Series is in the illustration. I’ve already seen the storyboarding by illustrator Andrea Alemanno for The Fox’s New Channel. My fox continues his crooked games, this time brazenly using new media and fake news.

My new illustrator, Iva Dukić in Croatia, currently illustrates my book Friends and Rivals. The prince brothers in the book end up in a bitter struggle for the crown and the throne. Fortunately, at the end of the book, the other brother returns to his brother’s side. The sad thing is that it took almost a lifetime in the dungeon.

I would like to highlight the third novelty, which is already well into the illustration. The Ukrainian Sofia Panchyshyn – the sister of the illustrator Roksolana, known from many of my other books – has taken up her delicate brush. Sofia’s gentle touch creates a magical and plentiful illustration for my story, The Bird Prison. In this book, we follow Griselda, who hates colorful birds nesting in her perfect garden with color harmony and begins a merciless battle against them.

We should get all these books in Wicwick’s fall/winter publishing schedule. I look forward to presenting them to readers and international partners. Since I’m so excited about the illustrations for the upcoming books, I’ve already been posting a few tastings of the artists’ works on my social media channels.

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