This sweetly observed story introduces children to the days of the week, and shares a positive experience of growing up with separated parents. Celebrating the release of the hardback edition, we chatted with the award-winning Holly Sterling, illustrator behind Wednesday is for Wiggling, to hear her experience about working on this title.

Wednesday is for Wiggling is written by Eva Wong Nava, and published by Walker Books.

In your own words, what is Wednesday is for Wiggling about?

Wednesday is for Wiggling is a heartwarming story about a little girl who celebrates the joy that comes with each day and all the special people in her life.

It reflects a family set up where the parents don’t live together, though that isn’t the focus of the story. Every caregiver in the book is loved and adored by the main character - and that love is clearly mutual.

What inspired the character design in Wednesday is for Wiggling?

When I first read Eva’s text, it felt as though it was about my own daughter. They share similar interests, but what really stood out for me was the main character’s zest for life and her love for the people around her. I focused on bringing those qualities to the forefront when illustrating her movements and interactions with other characters in the story.

I imagined the Mama in the story working shifts - “Wednesday was Mama’s day off”. I have a friend who’s a firefighter whose schedule is similar to the family in the book, so Mama became a firefighter though this is never mentioned in the text. There are visual hints throughout the book: her attire when dropping her daughter at playgroup, a hanging photo from her passing-out ceremony, and a picture of Mama at work at the start of the book.

Other characters were partly inspired by people I know and also by people I’ve seen around town or while out and about.

Before and after of a spread from the book

What inspired the artistic presentation of the locations?

This book offered plenty of opportunities to artistically explore a variety of locations. I love adding elements from my own life into my artwork. Including such details helps me to build spaces that feel believable for young readers and helps me connect to the illustrations on a personal level. It’s like capturing the “right here and now,” something I think will be wonderful to look back on in the future.

The park scene is inspired by our local park, with its bandstand, grassy banks, sandy play space, and climbing frame built around trees - a place where we’ve spent many happy hours as a family and with Matilda’s friends.

The allotment scene combines inspiration from our local allotments and my parents-in-law’s garden. It includes personal meaningful elements including some of our favourite flowers, kids’ gardening tools, familiar pots, a birdhouse, and a family dog!

The canal scene was inspired by a beautiful sunny canal walk with some of my northern children’s book illustration pals in Slaithwaite. There are also books and hanging art by some of my illustration friends woven into the artwork - more family favourites!

A spread from the book

What have you discovered you love most about illustrating books?

What I love most about illustrating books is the opportunity to visually bring characters to life. I enjoy discovering who they are, what makes them tick, what they love about life, who they care about, and where they live. Once I get to the core of who the characters are, they begin to come alive on the page. I start to believe in them, invest in them, and share in the journey they are about to take.

It’s a challenge (and exciting, of course!) to make a book really work. But knowing that your books could possibly inspire, comfort, or empower young readers is something truly special. And if my work helps a child see themselves reflected in a character, it makes the challenge all the more worthwhile.

A spread from the book

As an author/illustrator, how do you find bringing the words of another author to life in illustration?

I enjoy the process of bringing someone else’s words to life through illustration. In some ways, I find it easier, and in others, more challenging. It’s quite nice to have a clear brief to dissect and solve. When I’m writing and illustrating my own books, it takes a little longer as I negotiate with myself along the way; especially in the early stages!

With Wednesday is for Wiggling, Eva provided a clear story structure that helped with mapping out key moments early on. There was still some back and forth, figuring out which scenes needed more space to breathe or be celebrated, and I really enjoyed seeing things evolve at that stage.

Eva provided notes about the characters’ heritage/background and environment to help set the scene. That gave me a great starting point for research and reference. As I worked on the more finished roughs, I had ideas for additional details and it was wonderful to check in with Eva to make sure everything was accurate.

A look at Holly’s workspace

What was your favourite part of working on Wednesday is for Wiggling?

I loved the challenge of illustrating all the different environments! I played around with my illustrative process quite a bit while making the book, which was fun - though my computer didn’t love me for all the layered files. That experimentation opened up new possibilities for what I’m working on now actually.

One of the most important aspects of creating Wednesday is for Wiggling was building a strong sense of community throughout the book. I really enjoyed that challenge, especially as my more recent work had focused on smaller group dynamics.

A spread from the book

Is there anything specific you hope readers take away after reading Wednesday is for Wiggling?

Every child’s family dynamic is different. I hope that whether or not a child’s experience is like the little girl’s in our book, they can relate to her in some way and join in the fun by thinking about the special people in their own lives and the wonderful things they get to experience with them.

For me, Wednesday is for Wiggling is an uplifting book that I hope will spark conversation between children and their caregivers.

---

To get your copy of Wednesday is for Wiggling, click here.

To work with Holly, get in contact with Nicky Lander here.