Happy Book Birthday: THE BOY BEHIND THE WARDROBE: How C.S. Lewis Grew Up to Create Narnia

Posted on October 20, 2026 by viviankirkfield

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.

Cover Reveal: ROLLIN’ ON DOWN THE LINE: Lady Bird Johnson’s 1964 Whistle-Stop Tour for Civil Rights

Posted on April 22, 2024 by viviankirkfield

What a special post we have today! It’s a Cover Reveal…and you all know how much I love those! It’s our first look at someone’s new book baby…made even more delightful because co-authors Helen Kampion and Reneé Lyons stopped by to share a bit about themselves and the story behind the story.

But first…here’s a first peek at the awesome cover – and take note of the shiny Junior Library Guild seal…congratulations to the whole team that created this beautiful book!

**Launching from Sleeping Bear Press on July 1, 2024**

What a beautiful cover!!!

You know, in 1964, I was starting my sophomore year of college…many of us were still reeling from the assassination of John F. Kennedy…and the country was experiencing the first draft card burning to protest our involvement in the Vietnam War, the Beatles had arrived, and President Lyndon Johnson had signed the Civil Rights Act.

And here’s a little bit about the co-authors:

Helen Kampion finally pursued her dream of writing for children after a career in high-tech sales. With an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College, she began writing poetry, picture books, and middle-grade novels. Helen’s interest in history and strong women led her to co-author a picture about Lady Bird Johnson’s courage and grit. She lives in Wayland, Massachusetts.

Reneé Lyons’ mother always said would be a writer; as a youth, she wrote on everything—the coffee table, the walls, even the lamp shades! Reneé took this prediction to heart. Now, as a creative writer (with an MFA from Vermont College) and a professor of librarianship/children’s literature at East Tennessee State University, Reneé finds that little-known points of history inspire her creative bent, as does traversing the Blue Ridge hills of North Carolina, her family home for more than 250 years. She lives in Boone, North Carolina.

And here’s a little bit about the illustrator:
Erin McGuire is an illustrator of many books for children, including several other picture book biographies of powerful women: Alabama Spitfire: The Story of Harper Lee by Bethany Hegedus (HarperCollins), and her author/illustrator debut biography of Rose Valland, The Spy in the Museum (Simon and Schuster). For the past ten years she’s been the cover artist for the Nancy Drew Diaries book series and has taught and lectured internationally. Erin lives near Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband and son.

And lucky us…we get to see the flap copy for Rollin’ on Down the Line; Lady Bird Johnson’s 1964 Whistle-Stop Tour for Civil Rights
The year 1964 was a turbulent time in America. After years of racial struggle, in July of that
year, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. This law, declaring that all citizens were equal, outlawed racial segregation. Many Americans cheered this legislation, yet some did not. Many Southerners despised it and worried about what it meant for their traditions and way of life. With the upcoming November presidential election, President Johnson was advised not to campaign in the South due to the threats of violence since the signing of the new law.
But someone needed to visit the citizens in the South and explain why the new law was
necessary and good for the entire country. Born in Texas, First Lady Claudia Alta Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson was from the South and understood its people and customs. Despite her fear of public speaking and threats to her own safety, Lady Bird undertook a train tour to reach out to her fellow citizens and Southerners. This is the true story of her historic Whistle-Stop Tour, making almost fifty stops through eight Southern States in four days.

Points of interest:
-July 1, 2024 is the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act
-2024 is a campaign year
-Lady Bird’s campaign trip was the first time a First Lady had ever campaigned without her husband.

And now we’ll hear from Helen and Renee who were kind enough to stop by and share a bit about the path to publication for this book.
ME: Welcome, Helen and Renee. Thank you so much for making time to come by.
What inspired both of you to write this book?

Helen: Thank you so much, Vivian, for providing a platform for us to spread the word about the book. Renee is what I call a “history hoarder.” She loves history, reads it voraciously, and squirrels away little-known facts. When she came upon Lady Bird’s Whistle-Stop Tour, she knew someone had to tell the story. She told me about it, I researched Lady Bird’s tour, and immediately agreed. So, we both hopped on board the Lady Bird Special and after months of research, wrote the story of Lady Bird’s bravery, grit, and determination.

ME: What was difficult about writing the story?

Renee: Though kids love adventure, and a train trip certainly is a quintessential adventure, Lady Bird’s train story is also full of REAL danger – rumors of snipers and bomb threats! We needed to speak to such danger to show the extraordinary bravery exhibited by Lady Bird during the Whistle-Stop Tour. Our difficulty arose in writing about these threats, all the while making sure we focused primarily on Lady Bird’s character. We didn’t want to scare the reader in anyway, thus we had to write about the bomb threat using a “lighter” mood and tone. We worked on this part of the story longer and harder than any other!

This book looks like one I need to add to my collection. And friends, I hope you feel the same way. We can help new books become a success by
Buying them
Here are two Links to pre-order:
Silver Unicorn
https://www.silverunicornbooks.com/item/S1SjsBJkMZIca-CMZxWe0Q
Bookmarks https://www.bookmarksnc.org/search/site/Rollin%20on%20Down%20the%20Line

We can also review them
Add them to our Goodreads Want to Read Shelf
Tell friends about the book
Ask your local library to purchase copies for their collection

Thank you all for spending your precious moments with us.
Speaking of precious, I’m up to distributing prize #30…so we are moving right along. Thank you for your patience. And, thanks to the lovely Judie Offerdahl who created our awesome #50PreciousWords badges, I now have an updated flyer for the #50PreciousWordsforKids International Writing Challenge which happens during Children’s Book Week, May 6-10. If you know any kids (of any age up to age 18), please encourage them to write a story in 50 words or less – parents and/or teachers can email the stories to me (viviankirkfield@gmail.com). I’ll create a Heads-up post this week and share it on social media – what a wonderful way to encourage our young people to get in touch with their storyteller soul.
But right now, let’s share this post to spread the word about ROLLIN’ DOWN THE LINE!