About Elisa

I write and illustrate picture books because I've never outgrown a deep childhood urge to enter a magical world. As a child growing up in Los Angeles I used to wish that my huge, congested city were more like the places in the books that I loved - places where forests grew and seasons changed, where animals talked and anything was possible. I envied those characters who slid down rabbit holes, or visited with Charlotte and Wilbur, or flew with Peter Pan, or floated with Mary Poppins, or journeyed to Oz.

Since I couldn't actually visit these wonderful worlds (except, of course, by reading), I made little imaginary worlds of my own, using the materials at hand. My favorite project was an enormous dollhouse in my closet. The house was filled both with "store-bought" toys and with dolls and creatures which I made myself from paper, cloth, clay, nutshells, sea shells, bread dough, even dried apples. I'd lose myself for hours making up stories about these characters. I loved to make them treasures from scraps of this and that: a paper doily would become a lace tablecloth; half a walnut shell would be a baby's cozy cradle; a postage stamp would make a lovely portrait on the wall. Around the dollhouse I painted a mural, a fanciful landscape of forests, fields, mountains, blue skies - the world that I wished I could live in.

My husband, two children (grown and nearly grown), and our many pets live in the town of Albany, California, next door to Berkeley and across the bay from San Francisco. From our window, we can see the Golden Gate Bridge, and the boats on San Francisco Bay.

In 2006, I created a piece in watercolor and collage which features the people and geography of Berkeley and the Bay Area, as well as several children's books, drawn to look like open, flying kites.

When finished, the original art was digitalized at the Magnolia Editions Studio in Oakland, then sent to Belgium, where weavers transformed it into the tapestry. The tapestry and original painting now hang in the Fourth Floor Children's Room of the Main Library in Berkeley. The idea was inspired by wonderful children's librarian Elizabeth Overmyer, and funding for the project was generously provided by Giorgia Neidorf, through a trust fund in memory of her son, Max Delaware Neidorf-Weidenfeld.

Young Elisa (right), with her one

of her sisters, paints blobs.

Scenes from my

Miniature World.

I no longer have a dollhouse, but I'm still creating miniature worlds.

I've always liked painting

tiny scenes on eggs, too.

Dreamy view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Elisa's tapestry at the Berkeley Public Library.

Click here to see a larger image of the tapestry.

I was very honored to discover that the Berkeley Public Library had made a library card featuring an image from the tapestry.

Although I love creating imaginary worlds, I also enjoy drawing real places. Three of the books I've illustrated take place in big U.S. cities. ABUELA, by Arthur Dorros, is set in New York. CITY BY THE BAY, by Tricia Brown, is "a magical journey around San Francisco." And CITY OF ANGELS, by Julie Jaskol and Brian Lewis, explores my home city of L.A. The life, energy, texture and wealth of detail in cities inspire my collages.

To learn more about Elisa and her books, see her article "Points of View: Creating Miniature Worlds in Picture Books".

Read her interview "Seven Questions Over Breakfast with Elisa Kleven" by Julie Danielson from October 27, 2008.

And to read even more about Elisa's work and outlook, go to her interview with Aline Pereira in PaperTigers.org.

Library card

These are some of the interesting questions children have asked Elisa Kleven about her life as a children's book author and illustrator.

How do you make your books?
Before I make finished illustrations, I make what is called a book "dummy", which is really a rough draft of the book. I plan out the book in pencil and paste in the words. I send the book dummy off to my editor, who looks it over with the art director. Once we agree that everything is okay, I go on to make the finished pictures.

What are your illustrations made with?
I use all sorts of art supplies to make my pictures: watercolor, colored pencils, ink, even crayon. I also use a lot of collage- bits and pieces of paper or material which I glue on to my pictures to give them texture and pattern.

Why do so many characters fly in your pictures and stories?
I have always wanted to fly -- really fly, like Peter Pan, not just travel in an airplane. Making my picturebook characters fly is the second best thing. (My brilliant editor at Dutton Children's Books thought I'd be a good illustrator for the story ABUELA, by Arthur Dorros, because she knew I loved to draw angels and flying people.) Many of my own stories, such as THE PAPER PRINCESS and SUN BREAD, also feature figures that fly.

Did you go to art school?
No, I went to the University of California at Berkeley, where I studied literature. I also studied at the Graduate School of Education, where I received a teaching credential. After teaching for several years and reading lots and lots of books to children, I realized that I wanted to make my own books.

Book illustration seemed a natural choice for me: although I had never studied art formally, I had always loved making things with my hands. I was lucky to have had both a mother and a grandmother who were artists. My mother made etchings and prints out of bits of metal and ink, and my grandmother made statues out of clay. Both of these artistic women encouraged my creativity. They often took me and my sisters to museums, and gave us art supplies for birthday and holiday gifts.