As we continue to ring in 2025, it’s natural for people of all ages to be thinking about what the new year holds. Some may feel excited, others may feel anxious, and many more may feel a mix of both as well all venture into a new year together. In Lisl H. Detlefsen’s new book, Each Day is a Gift, young readers can imagine the possibilities of what the future holds — both positive and negative — and come to view them as gifts. We had the chance to sit down with Detlefsen and talk about her book, embracing the unexpected, and delicious cranberries.
About Lisl H. Detlefsen
Lisl H. Detlefsen is the author of a growing number of picture books, including three new titles in 2024: At the End of the Day, illustrated by Lynnor Bontigao, Still There Was Bread, illustrated by David Soman, and Each Day is a Gift, illustrated by Natalia Vasilica. She lives with her husband and two sons in a restored farmhouse on a family-owned cranberry marsh in Wisconsin.
Thank you so much for joining us, Lisl! Let’s get started.
What message do you hope young readers take away from Each Day is a Gift?
While the central theme is gratitude, I hope it also inspires young readers to be open-minded about the gifts they receive, both figuratively and literally. So many times, how you perceive a gift and what you do with it has profound importance beyond the gift itself. I truly hope the book encourages kids to look at an ordinary or unexpected gift — or day in their life! — as an opportunity to be curious or discover something new.
What advice would you give to a reader who has received a “very unwanted” day, like some of the characters in your book?
Whenever I had unwanted days as a child, my mother would say, “This too shall pass.” I found it incredibly frustrating, to be honest, but it is something I now say to myself all the time! I’m someone who tends to get anxious about the future, which can lead me to fail to stay grounded in the present, in wanted or unwanted days.
All this to say that I’d tell readers that unwanted days are so difficult but are a part of being human and the pain or worry or frustration will indeed pass. As a therapist friend of mine always says, “The only wrong way to work through grief is to avoid working through it.” On the flipside, I’d tell readers to fully enjoy the happy or expected days and appreciate them by staying present in the moment as those moments do pass, too.
Can you give an example from your own experiences in which an unwanted gift turned out to be something wonderful?
When I married my husband, it came with the gift of moving to his family’s cranberry farm in rural Wisconsin. At the time, this felt like an unwanted gift to this city girl who had dreamed of moving to New York and knew very little about agriculture! What initially felt like a compromise to be with the person I loved turned out to be truly wonderful indeed.
Living where I do has provided me with plenty of room to run and work from home and experience nature with my family. I have a much greater appreciation for where my food comes from and the people who grow it, and the experiences I’ve had here have inspired a great deal of my books, many of which are about rural life or agriculture.
Tell us about your experience working with Natalia Vasilica, the illustrator of Each Day is a Gift. What did your collaborative process look like?
Collaboration on a picture book includes many people, including author, illustrator, editor, and art director, to name just a few. While Natalia Vasilica and I did not have direct contact during the process—something that is quite common in traditional publishing—the book is definitely a beautiful marriage of my words and her art. While writing, I strive to leave plenty of room for an illustrator to bring their own vision to a project.
I was delighted to see how Natalia brought her visual storytelling to the page, weaving different characters in and out of each other’s gifts along the way. I would call it a gift, too, that thanks to technology, I can work from my home office on the cranberry farm in central Wisconsin while Natalia can create from her studio in the Netherlands, and we can both work with the incredible team at Beaming Books, which is based in Minneapolis.
What ignited your desire to bring stories to life for young readers?
I’ve always been a storyteller and had a great love of books, in large part because I was read to daily as a child. When I was too little to write myself, I would tell my mom stories that she’d write down for me on blank paper stapled together, and then I would “illustrate” them.
When I went to first grade, my teacher kept little blank books in the back of her classroom, and we could write and illustrate our own stories if we were done with our other work. My mother kept a few that I made, and I love taking them with me to school visits to share with students. I still feel like picture books are a magical form of storytelling thanks to the way the words work with the illustrations on the page.
Is there a particular children’s book from your own childhood that inspires you as a creator to this day?
I was a HUGE fan of the work of James Marshall, and I love how he used both humor and heart in his books. I particularly love the many short tales featuring his beloved hippos, George and Martha, and have always appreciated how they are very different and can exasperate each other, but they do genuinely care about each other and have a strong friendship, too. Another childhood favorite, Judith Viorst’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, definitely inspired my book At the End of the Day, which was illustrated by the incredible Lynnor Bontigao and came out last spring.
On your website, you offer resources and virtual workshops for aspiring picture book authors. What is the first piece of advice you would offer anyone interested in writing picture books?
Read as many recently published picture books as you can get your hands on! Go to the library, go to the bookstore, and see what books are being published right now. Pay attention to what you love — and what you don’t! — and which publishers seem to put out the books that resonate with you the most.
You live on a cranberry marsh! What is your favorite cranberry dish?
I love a good cranberry recipe! Cranberries are incredibly versatile, as they can be used in both sweet and savory dishes. One of my very favorites to make during the holiday season with fresh cranberries is my sister-in-law’s cranberry pie, which is a kind of cake/pie hybrid! You can find the recipe in the back of my first book, Time for Cranberries.
Finally, in honor of Each Day is a Gift, what is an everyday gift that always makes you feel grateful?
As a child, the only pets I could have due to allergies in our family were fish, which are not terribly exciting (and not inclined to cuddle!) After many rounds of allergy shots and testing, I discovered I am not allergic to cats as long as they remain indoors! Our household now includes two black cats who I absolutely love. It has been an incredible gift to bond with animals, and I love having them curl up next to me in my office while I write.
A big thank you to Bianca for taking the time to speak with us! Be sure to find her online at lislhdbooks.com, or on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. Lastly, don’t forget to add Each Day is a Gift to your family’s TBR list.
To see more of our talks with authors across the genres, check out our collection of Author Interviews.
To see all of our recommendations for mini bookworms, check out our Bookshop bookshelf.
