Can you become attached to trees? Yes, you can!
Sarah Kurpiel is a librarian and self-taught author/illustrator. Her stories are inspired by animals, nature, and moments of wonder in everyday life. She hopes her work brings a bit of happiness into the world—and a bit of disability representation too. Sarah uses a power wheelchair and considers her disability an important part of her identity. She lives with her family in Downers Grove, Illinois. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Instagram or BlueSky.
MORE THAN A TREE is a picture book about a little girl who loves the tree in her backyard. It talks to her in whooshes of wind and creaks and groans. Until one spring, it got sick. This is a story of unexpected loss of something this child holds dear. How she is able to cope and thrive is such a sweet heart song that will make all readers think of the trees around them in a different way.
Welcome Sarah!
Me: Can you share about your creative journey? When did you start creating art professionally? How did that bring you to being the author and illustrator of this book?
Sarah: Thanks so much for having me on the blog! For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved to draw. Growing up, I’d borrow art books from the library, draw people from magazines, pour over comic strips in the Sunday paper, and doodle imaginary characters. Drawing was a relaxing hobby. In college, I studied literature. One course included graphic memoirs. I’d never read a long form graphic narrative before, and I was blown away. For the first time, I started thinking seriously about making my own narrative art one day. Later, I went to library school and became a librarian. During my first library job, the whimsical, heartfelt picture book A Sick Day for Amos McGee crossed my desk and rekindled my love for picture books. It was my “ah ha” moment. This was exactly the kind of narrative art I wanted to make. But being self-taught, I wasn’t sure if that was a realistic dream.
A few years later, I finally decided to give it a real try. I taught myself how to draw digitally and began posting drawings online anonymously. After about a year and half of drawing nearly every day, I fell into a style that felt like me. And that’s when a lucky thing happened: an agent’s assistant spotted one of my illustrations on Instagram. (It was 2018. Social media was different back then.) After a few months spent building my portfolio and revising my dummy, I was offered representation and, shortly after, got my first book deal. I was thrilled. My debut picture book, Lone Wolf, was published by Greenwillow Books in 2020.
Since then, I’ve written and illustrated five more picture books. My style has changed a lot over the years. There’s always more to learn, new things to try. And, as it turns out, being self-taught has never been a problem; in fact, I’ve come to learn that plenty of kidlit illustrators are self-taught. I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity to create stories for kids.
Me: You have written and illustrated multiple picture books (and comics) at this point in your career, each of them so different from each other. What gave you the idea for this story about a little girl losing a tree in her backyard?
Sarah: Although my stories are fiction, they’re often inspired by something that happened in my childhood. That’s certainly true of my latest picture book, More than a Tree (Rocky Pond Books / Penguin, March 2026), about a young girl struggling to say goodbye to a beloved backyard tree. When I was a kid, my family had a large, old tree in our backyard. My brothers and I played around it all the time. It sparked many imaginary games. One year, the tree started creaking, even in light wind. With time, it got worse. The tree stood precariously close to our house, so an arborist recommended removing it by crane. I was a kid who got really attached to objects: a tiny tea set, an old book, a smooth seashell, a large rock shaped kind of like a turtle in my backyard (this last one makes an appearance in the book). So, losing that tree was a big deal to little me. With this picture book, I sought to capture the real feelings I felt as a kid but situate them in a fictional narrative where I could also show the comfort we can find in memories and in nature’s renewal.
Me: I love the way you illustrated this book. The softness and textures are gorgeous! Can you tell us a little bit about your illustrations for the book? Did you work with traditional media or digital or both?
Sarah: Thank you! I drew the illustrations digitally using a mix of digital wet media and dry media brushes to create that soft, textured look. Since the book is partly about nature’s cycle of change, I chose a color to represent each season: soft yellow for spring, green for summer, reddish orange for fall, and desaturated blue for winter. Then, I combined those colors in various ways throughout the book. I didn’t limit myself to only those colors, but I returned to them often. For added warmth, I chose cream-colored backgrounds for the book cover and throughout the book.
Getting to that point wasn’t easy. Honestly, it took me a long time to settle on the right illustration style for this gentle story. I had at least one false start. At one point, I was certain I’d hit on the right style. It had a woodcut-like feel that felt perfect for a story about a tree. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, the style only ever worked on pages that had little to no background. In the end, hard as it was, I had to move on. (But at least I got to use it for the endpapers!) I continued experimenting. Finally, when I started playing around with digital wet media brushes, which I hadn’t used before, and combined them with digital dry media brushes, they created a softness that felt right for this gentle story. I continued in that direction, and I’m glad that I did. I’m happy with how it turned out.
Me: Do you have a favorite spread that you illustrated for this book? If yes, which one?
Sarah: Yes! I have two favorites, in fact. First is the page featuring the main character sitting on Turtle Rock beside her dog, staring upward. The tree isn’t in the picture, but we know that’s what she’s looking at. She’s just learned that it will soon be removed. It’s an emotional moment, one where the illustration really does speak louder than words. My second favorite is the spread where the family gathers around the table to press leaves, something I never did as a kid but know I would have loved to do. In the process of preserving memories of their tree, they’re also creating a new memory as a family.
Me: I love both of those as well. Your story is deceptively simple. It carries such emotion and heart with it that it really packs a punch. Was the manuscript always this tight? Or did it come about through revision? How many revisions did it take to get your manuscript to this final state? Did it go through many revisions or was this a gift of the Muse?
Sarah: I wrote the first draft in 2022. Back then, the story was longer and less focused. There was a scene with a truck driving the tree trunk away to be repurposed, a scene with the neighbors, and a scene where the main character imagines the tree’s history and all the different creatures who once sat in its shade or called it home. As you can see, the story had a lot going on! But then I sold my book A Little Like Magic (Rock Pond Books), so that became my focus. I set the tree story aside. A few months later, I picked it up again and, with fresh eyes, revised, thumbnailed, sent it to my critique partners, and then revised some more. At that time, I was simultaneously working on another story, which I was certain would be the second book in my two-book deal. But in the end, I felt that the tree story (it had a different title at the time) was stronger. In early 2024, I made a full dummy and sent it to my agents. Through helpful feedback from critique partners, my agents, and my editor, I revised the story to focus more narrowly on the main character’s relationship with the tree. Everything else had to go. Amazingly, however, as I read back my original 2022 draft, several lines, including the opening lines, are virtually unchanged.
Me: That’s incredible! What is one thing that surprised you in either writing or illustrating this story?
Sarah: When it comes to writing picture books, I’m usually indecisive. I second-guess every sentence, every word. But when it comes to illustrating, I’m usually the opposite. So, what surprised me while making More than a Tree was the uncertainty I felt as I began the final art. Approved sketches in hand, I knew what to draw, but I found myself second-guessing how I wanted to draw it. So, I took a step back and began experimenting. I made small changes to the way I usually draw. Nothing too dramatic. I tried different digital brushes; a looser, sketchier style; more shading and highlights; thick outlines, thin outlines, no outlines; and so on. One “experiment” led to an interesting technique I now use in some of my personal work. The more I experimented, the more I realized that I should really make time to do this more often. Finally, after spending time playing around with two digital wet media brushes I’d never used before, I found the beginnings of a new, softer path forward for the book.
Me: Any advice for other new picture book writers and/or illustrators?
Sarah: In addition to the perennial advice of read lots of picture books, I recommend keeping a notebook or sketchbook close by to remind yourself to be on the lookout for inspiration throughout your day. Doodle things that spark your interest and jot down your ideas—no matter how small—before they flutter away. You never know what might lead to your next book idea.
I love that. Great advice Sarah. Thank you for stopping by my blog today.
Dear readers, this book just published this week. It’s a beautiful quiet story that is sure to build up love for trees everywhere. Trust me when I say, you won’t want to miss it!