Interview: Johanna Venho and Sanna Pelliccioni talk about Thank you, Forest

Sanna Pelliccioni

Johanna Venho 

Thank you, Forest

An interview with Finnish author-illustrator team, Johanna Venho and Sanna Pelliccioni

The gorgeous picture book Thank you, Forest reached the bookshelves of Oceania in November, with the hardback printing of the book by Five Oceans. Originally published in Finland, Thank you, Forest brings to children a story about care for trees and the mysteries inside forests, in an English translation by Jennifer Pulju Porter.

Author Johanna Venho and illustrator Sanna Pelliccioni talk about the creation of this book that is now reaching children in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific. 

Sanna, Johanna, thank you for joining us. How does it feel to have your book published in English?

Sanna: Thank you for publishing this book on the other side of the planet, it's wonderful! I feel especially honoured knowing that some indigenous people might also read our story of protecting trees. The nature there must be so different, but around the world we share nowadays the same problems of deforestation and destroying the nature, but also people waking up to what's happening and what we can do. Writing poems to trees is such a wonderful idea. And also listening to what a tree answers. 

Johanna: It’s amazing. It’s like a fairy tale itself, a traveling book. Sometimes I ask myself: is this really true? I am truly happy about it. 

What inspired you to write this magical book about a girl’s relationship to the forest? 

Sanna: We started the book during the pandemic, so we met outside, walking in parks or swimming in the Baltic Sea. Our co-operation is wonderful, we are in deep dialogue, and we both share a deep connection to nature and also the subconscious nature in ourselves. Our co-operation goes on, and the third book project of this series is just starting. 

Johanna: I love fairy tales and folk tales, and they have for a long time inspired my poetry, but also my books for children. I wanted to tell a story that shows the power of imagination. Also, I have studied biology, and nature, particularly forests, are close to my heart. We discussed for a long time with Sanna that we’d like to do together a book about trees and forests, to protect them, to value them, to remind readers of their importance.

What techniques did you use capture nature to make the pages feel like a notebook that a child has put together?

Sanna: I graduated first as a biologist and studied illustration after that. Many of my books talk about nature and the environment. For a long time, I wanted to use my old dried plant samples in illustration and eventually, in this book, I did. I love notebooks, collecting samples, and taking notes. It was wonderful to bring this variable style inside this book.

How did you imagine the characters Spruce and Gale, who are totally believable but also otherworldly and inspiring?

Johanna: The best thing in writing is imagining things. My head is full of characters looking for stories! And I go around looking for stories. I walked a lot in the forest and imagined about what kind of characters I’s like to write about.  

  

Johanna, you are a poet also. Is the writing process very different between poetry and a picture book like Thank you, Forest?

Johanna: Yes, they are very different processes. Prose for adults takes a lot of time and energy and sitting by the computer and libraries. Poetry on the other hand is a work of endless editing. In writing picture books, it’s important to play and have fun, let the imagination fly. I see both poetry and stories in my picture books quite visually. After the story is born, I write it many times and change and edit again and again, until I am happy with the text. 

You collaborate closely on all aspects of the book, it seems.

Sanna: This book is our mutual co-operation from the beginning. Initially, I asked Johanna if she is interested in writing a book about a child protecting trees and forests, because our forests are being cut down at an enormous rate. I wish the illustrator would be noted like the author.

Johanna: As I write mostly by myself, I truly enjoy co-operation with illustrators. It’s amazing to follow how the world of words turns into images and colours. 

Are you working on any books at the moment – if you are ready to talk about them?

Johanna: Sanna and I are now onto the third book of this "series” of notebooks about Spruce and Gale. It is called School Notebook and will be published in 2027. The second was Travel Notebook (as Thank you, Forest is Forest Notebook in Finnish). I am also writing a historical novel, which I have been working on already for quite a while. 

A grant from the Finnish Literature Exchange supported this book to be published in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific.

The authors

Johanna Venho is a leading author and poet based in Finland who has written for both adults and children. Among the many awards for her books, she received the prestigious Arvid Lydecken Prize for Children’s Literature in 2003. 

Sanna Pelliccioni is an award-winning illustrator and children’s author whose work has been widely translated. She featured in the IBBY honour list 2022. Sanna lives in Helsinki, Finland.

Jen Pulju Porter is a Finnish-American translator who has worked across a range of genres in her career. She currently lives in Colorado, USA.

Publication: 7 November 2025  |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004294-2 |  RRP $25.99

Hardback, 240 x 175 mm portrait, 32 pages, colour

From the forests of Finland, a thank you to nature for young readers in Oceania

Thank you, Forest

Johanna Venho

Illustrated by Sanna Pelliccioni

Translated by Jennifer Pulju Porter

Travelling all the way from the forests of Finland to the ngāhere of New Zealand, Thank you, Forest is a unique book for children — a story in the form of a child's notebook. 

Finnish author and poet Johanna Venho conjures up the world of Spruce, a young girl whose sanctuary is the forest near her house.

She writes and collects from the nature around her to fill her notebook with items that enrich her life.

Then her parents and brother Zach start to look glum and talk about the forest being 'zoned'. 

‘What does “zoned” mean?’ I ask.

‘It means they’re going to build apartment blocks here,’ Zach says.

Spruce returns to the forest and ties notes to the trees as a type of protest. The notes are seen by a mysterious boy with green eyes and twigs in his hair, who introduces himself as Gale. 

Gale takes Spruce to see an underground lake deep in  forest. Could this be secret they need to save the trees from destruction? 

Thank you, Forest conjures up a sense of belonging in nature that is perfectly reflected in Sanna Pelliccioni’s notebook-style illustrations.

Noted Finnish-American translator Jennifer Pulju Porter crafted the English text. 

A grant from the Finnish Literature Exchange supported this book to be published in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific.

The authors

Johanna Venho is a leading author and poet based in Finland who has written for both adults and children. Among the many awards for her books, she received the prestigious Arvid Lydecken Prize for Children’s Literature in 2003. 

Sanna Pelliccioni is an award-winning illustrator and children’s author whose work has been widely translated. She featured in the IBBY honour list 2022. Sanna lives in Helsinki, Finland.

Jen Pulju Porter is a Finnish-American translator who has worked across a range of genres in her career. She currently lives in Colorado, USA.

Publication: 7 November 2025  |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004294-2 |  RRP $25.99

Hardback, 240 x 175 mm portrait, 32 pages, colour