About Wren Eleanor
From Forest Trails to Picture Books
I grew up in Olympia, Washington, spending more time in the woods behind our house than inside it. My parents were both educators—my mother taught third grade for 28 years, my father was a high school biology teacher—and they encouraged my obsession with collecting leaves, sketching birds, and building elaborate fairy houses from moss and twigs. By age eight, I had filled 23 notebooks with drawings of insects, plants, and small mammals, each one labeled with observations about where I found them and what they were doing.
I studied wildlife biology at the University of Montana from 2003 to 2007, planning to become a field researcher. I spent summers working for the Forest Service, conducting spotted owl surveys and stream health assessments in the Bitterroot Mountains. During my senior year, I volunteered at a local elementary school, helping with their outdoor education program. Watching children discover salamanders under logs and get excited about identifying tree species reminded me how powerful those early nature experiences had been in my own life. I realized I could have more impact helping children connect with nature than I could collecting data in remote locations.
After graduation, I moved to Portland, Oregon, and worked as an environmental educator for the Audubon Society of Portland for five years. I led field trips, developed curriculum, and ran summer camps for children ages 4-12. During this time, I noticed that the children who had been exposed to nature-themed books at home arrived with more curiosity and better observation skills than their peers. They had vocabulary for what they were seeing and frameworks for understanding ecological relationships. This observation planted the seed that eventually grew into my career as a children's book author.
I started taking illustration classes at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2010, studying watercolor, gouache, and traditional painting techniques. For three years, I worked my education job during the day and painted every evening and weekend. My first manuscript, 'The Sparrow's Secret,' went through 47 rejections over two years before Timber Creek Press offered me a contract in 2016. The book was published in 2018, and I've been writing and illustrating full-time since 2019.
| Year | Milestone | Location | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003-2007 | Wildlife Biology Degree | University of Montana | Foundation in ecological science |
| 2007-2012 | Environmental Educator | Audubon Society of Portland | Developed teaching approach |
| 2010-2013 | Illustration Studies | Pacific Northwest College of Art | Acquired technical skills |
| 2016 | First Book Contract | Portland, OR | Professional author career begins |
| 2018 | The Sparrow's Secret Published | National release | Debut book, 47K copies sold |
| 2019 | Green Earth Book Award | National recognition | Industry validation |
| 2019-Present | Full-Time Author/Illustrator | Bellingham, WA | Eight books published |
Philosophy and Approach to Children's Environmental Literature
My core belief is that environmental education for children should focus on wonder rather than worry. The climate crisis is real and urgent, but burdening young children with anxiety about planetary collapse is neither effective nor appropriate. Research from the University of Michigan's School of Environment and Sustainability shows that fear-based environmental messaging in childhood correlates with disengagement and helplessness in adulthood, while positive early nature experiences correlate with pro-environmental behavior throughout life.
I design every book to accomplish three things: tell an engaging story with characters children care about, provide scientifically accurate information about ecosystems and species, and inspire curiosity that leads to real-world exploration. The story always comes first. If a child isn't emotionally invested in the narrative, they won't absorb the educational content or feel motivated to learn more. My characters face genuine challenges that require them to understand their environment, creating natural opportunities for ecological information to emerge through plot rather than exposition.
The visual component is equally important as the text. I include far more detail in my illustrations than the story requires because I want children to discover new elements each time they revisit a book. A spread might feature the main character in the foreground, but the background contains 12-15 additional species, all accurately depicted and identifiable. Parents and teachers tell me that children spend long periods studying individual pages, counting insects, identifying flowers, and noticing relationships between different elements in the scene.
I'm particularly interested in making environmental science accessible to children from all backgrounds. Many nature books feature children exploring wild spaces that require significant family resources to access—national parks, wilderness areas, exotic locations. While those places are wonderful, most children experience nature in their immediate surroundings: city parks, backyard gardens, neighborhood trees, local streams. My books focus on accessible ecosystems and common species that children can observe wherever they live. The sparrow, oak tree, and garden settings in my books are deliberately chosen because they're available to children in urban, suburban, and rural settings across the country.
Current Work and Future Projects
I currently live in Bellingham, Washington, with my partner and our two dogs. My studio is a converted garage with north-facing windows that provide consistent light for painting. I maintain a schedule of writing in the mornings and painting in the afternoons, though this often shifts depending on which stage of production I'm in. I'm currently working on two books simultaneously: one about tide pools scheduled for 2025 release, and another about soil ecosystems planned for 2026.
The tide pool book, titled 'When the Ocean Breathes,' follows a young girl and her grandfather exploring the intertidal zone during a summer visit to the coast. It addresses concepts like tidal cycles, adaptation to changing conditions, and the interconnection between ocean and land ecosystems. I've spent the past year visiting tide pools along the Washington and Oregon coasts, photographing species, and consulting with marine biologists from the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories. The manuscript is complete, and I'm about halfway through the illustrations.
The soil book represents new territory for me—literally underground. Tentatively titled 'The Secret City,' it reveals the hidden world beneath a garden, featuring characters like earthworms, beetles, fungi, and bacteria. Making soil interesting and accessible to young children is a significant challenge, but soil health is fundamental to every terrestrial ecosystem and critically important for climate resilience. I'm working with soil scientists from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to ensure accuracy while keeping the content engaging for ages 5-9.
Beyond these two books, I'm developing a non-fiction series that will take a more direct educational approach than my narrative picture books. These will be longer, more detailed explorations of specific ecosystems—forests, wetlands, prairies, deserts—designed for ages 8-12. The goal is to bridge the gap between picture books and the more academic nature guides that assume significant prior knowledge. I'm also exploring the possibility of creating field guide companions to my existing books, providing additional information about the species featured in the illustrations. You can read more about my published books on the main page, and the FAQ page addresses common questions about my process and approach.
| Working Title | Target Age | Primary Ecosystem | Key Concepts | Planned Release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| When the Ocean Breathes | 5-9 | Intertidal Zone | Tidal cycles, adaptation, marine life | Spring 2025 |
| The Secret City | 5-9 | Soil Ecosystem | Decomposition, soil health, underground biodiversity | Fall 2026 |
| Forest Layers (working title) | 8-12 | Temperate Forest | Vertical stratification, nutrient cycling | 2027 |
| Wetland Wonders (working title) | 8-12 | Freshwater Wetland | Water filtration, amphibian life cycles | TBD |