Hello dear friends. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…the new books are coming hot and heavy! And how THRILLED I am to help celebrate the launch of this particular book! I’ve mentioned that it is a special pleasure to welcome a book that I saw as an early draft…back in 2016, I gave author Suzanne some feedback. I am sure that the manuscript went through many more revisions after that…but now, 10 years later, IT IS A BOOK! Those 5 P’s are at work again…especially the Patience and the Perseverance.
So, please join me in an enthusiastic rendition of Happy Birthday to You!!
Suzanne is here…ready to blow out the candles and share a bit about the story and what inspired her to write it. Grab a big slice of cake, sit back…and enjoy!
Synopsis
Once a boy was born to make stories: C.S. Lewis, who insisted on being called “Jack.” Jack loved to write and draw animal tales with his older brother. But after his mother died, he was shipped to boarding school, where he longed for real friends. Words and stories were his refuge — and they would drive him toward his destiny as a world-renowned author.
With lyrical words and lush, fantastical art from Mira Miroslavova, this spellbinding biography invites young readers into the childhood of the creator of Narnia.
Thank you, Vivian, for helping me celebrate my book birthday! I’m excited to finally share this gorgeous picture book with the world.
What inspired me to write this story?
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe made a huge impression on me as a child. I still enjoy re-reading The Chronicles of Narnia as an adult. While moving around the world, I realized that many people assume C.S. Lewis was English because of his connection with Oxford University and J.R.R. Tolkien. He was, in fact, born in Belfast. I was inspired to write The Boy Behind the Wardrobe because I was born and raised in Northern Ireland and taught geography in Belfast, two miles from C.S. Lewis’s childhood home. My initial idea was to produce a beautifully illustrated picture book highlighting the landscapes, castles, and coastlines of Northern Ireland that inspired C.S. Lewis’s Narnia.
What was the biggest challenge I faced?
I started my research in October 2015. It was a full year before I had a finished manuscript to share with my critique group. C.S. Lewis was a larger-than-life character and there’s a lot of fantastic information on him. It’s almost overwhelming. One of my biggest challenges was synthesizing my 10,000 words of notes into a compelling story arc with an emotional narrative thread. I had to cut so much because it didn’t serve the story I was trying to tell.
And Vivian, you were one of those readers to see an early draft of this story. Your insightful feedback helped me focus on the themes and trim the word count before sending it to my agent.
My path to publication
The story went through several rounds of revisions over the next few months. Around this time, I took Kristen Fulton’s narrative nonfiction writing course and read widely in that genre. One of my go-to mentor texts was The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus written by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, and published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. You could say I wrote The Boy Behind the Wardrobe with Eerdmans in mind. However, my agent already had another client’s story on submission with this publisher, so she made an initial list of five editors at other publishing houses.
Then in May 2016, while volunteering with SCBWI at the Texas Library Association convention, I connected with Kathleen Merz, the acquiring editor at Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. We started chatting about books. When I mentioned my C.S. Lewis story, Kathleen said she would love to read it.
It was several months before I heard back from Eerdmans. I’d moved to Seoul and was beginning to think that my story hadn’t resonated with them. Then, on December 1, 2017, I got exciting news from my agent — my manuscript had received unanimous enthusiasm from the acquisitions team at Eerdmans, and they wanted to publish my story!
I knew Eerdmans had the vision to publish a beautiful book, and I was delighted when Mira Miroslavova was brought on board in 2022. Her artwork had that lovely balance of imagination and groundedness needed for this story. At this point, the process became very collaborative — I was consulted from first sketches to final art. I also enjoyed digging up historical photos when Mira asked for clarification on a particular scene or when it was important for the images to feel historically accurate.
Mira worked on the illustrations for three years—a true labor of love. At 56 pages, The Boy Behind the Wardrobe is almost twice the length of a standard 32-page picture book and every single spread is gorgeous. The finished book was well worth the wait. And the timing is perfect for Greta Gerwig’s movie adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew, scheduled for a worldwide theatrical release in February 2027.
Thank you, Vivian, for helping me celebrate the publication of my debut picture book. I’m thrilled to share that THE BOY BEHIND THE WARDROBE is now part of the Incredible Lives for Young Readers Series, alongside The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus, the mentor text that helped shape my early manuscript.
Suzanne’s bio: Suzanne was born in Northern Ireland and taught geography two miles from C. S. Lewis’s childhood home in Belfast. After trading her classroom to travel the world as a U.S. Air Force spouse, she settled near Washington, DC, where she teaches elementary school reading. The Boy Behind the Wardrobe: How C. S. Lewis Grew Up to Create Narnia is Suzanne’s debut picture book and can be ordered through her website
Suzanne Poulter Harris Children’s Book Author or wherever books are sold. Follow her on Instagram @suzannepoulterharris and X @SuzannePoulterH.
Mira Miroslavova has created art for many picture books and novels, including Night of the Deer (Sleeping Bear), The Birds of Christmas (Eerdmans), and a cover for National Book Award Finalist The Ogress and the Orphans (Algonquin). Her work has been called “elegant” and “eye-catching” by Kirkus Reviews and has been selected for the Society of Illustrators “The Original Art” show. Raised near Sofia, Bulgaria, Mira now lives in Manchester, England. Follow her on Instagram @miramiroslavova.
Thank you so much, Suzanne! You’ve taken us on your journey…one of hard work, patience, and perseverance. This is a very special book…and I hope my blog followers will
Buy a copy
Review the book
Tell friends about it
Ask local libraries to purchase copies
Put it on the Goodreads Want to Read Shelf
Thank you all for spending your precious time with us…and have a great week.
