Meet Dorothea Jensen
Born in Boston, Author of Tizzy, the Christmas Elf; Blizzy, the Worrywart Elf; and Dizzy, the Stowaway Elf and winner of a Mom’s Choice Award!
Q.brWhen did you start writing about Santa’sbrIzzy Elves?
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I first wrote Tizzy’s story in 1991. Although it was automatically copyrightedbrat that
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time,brI didn’t register it for copyright officially until 1999. It was originallybrtitled The Elf
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on the Shelf. Unfortunately,brtitles cannot be copyrighted, and someone else eventually
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usedbrthat title, so I changed mine to Tizzy,brthe Christmas Shelf Elf beforebrpublishing it as a
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Kindlebrbook in 2011.
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Q.brWhen did you write the two sequels?
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In 2012, I was working on my new historical novel for children, A Buss From
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LaFayette, whenbrI heard devastating news: my only brother, just one year my senior, had
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beenbrdiagnosed with terminal cancer. For the next ten months, I was deeply involvedbrin
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hisbrcare and treatment, and was unable to continue with the complex task of writing
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historicalbrfiction. I found, however, that creating stories about elves was an excellent
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waybrto escape for a little while from the problems of real life. I wrote most of Blizzy, the
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Worrywart Elf atbrhis bedside and most of Dizzy, thebrStowaway Elf soon after he passed
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away.brIronically enough, I was literally putting the illustrations into the Blizzy book
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whenbrI learned my father was also dying and I completed it two days after he passed
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away.brLosing two family members in less than six months was tough, but it reminded
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mebrhow fleeting life is, and inspired me to write while I still have time.
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Q.brWho is your target reader?
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School-aged kids and their parents, grandparents, teachers, et al. I use somebrwords
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thatbrchildren probably don’t know and they will need an explanation from an adult.
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Besides,brI try to make stories that adults will enjoy, too. Furthermore, I do not likebrto
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writebr“down” to children: I believe that entertaining stories are great avenues for
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discoveringbrfun new words.
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WhenbrI wrote The Riddle of Penncroft Farm, my editors at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
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pressuredbrme to remove archaic words because they thought kids would not
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understandbrthem. I (mostly) prevailed, and almost all the fan letters I’ve received from
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youngbrreaders over the years have stated that they lovedbrthe interesting old words.
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Q.brHow did you come up with the names forbrthe elves?
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I named my first elf Tizzy tobrconvey the idea that he was pretty upset with being
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strandedbrso far away from the North Pole – in a tizzy,brso to speak. Then I discovered that
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puttingbr-izzy togetherbrwith other initial consonants yielded surprisingly meaningful
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namesbrfor elves: Quizzy – who makes puzzles; Blizzy – who makes snow globes; Fizzy
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andbrDizzy – who make “toys that surprise”; Frizzy – who cuts and curls the dolls’brhair;
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Bizzybr- who like to boss the other elves; and Whizzy – who rushes around wrapping
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presents.brThen it occurred to me that they are all known as Santa’s Izzy Elves.
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Q.brWill there be stories for all of the IzzybrElves?
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There certainly will. I pretty much know what happens to Frizzy, Whizzy,brQuizzy,
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Bizzy,brand Fizzy. Just have to carve it out into poems.
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Q. Is writing poetry difficult for you?
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Not at all. It almost writes itself. I like to say that I have eight elvesbrinside my brain
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dictatingbrpoetry for me to write down. Sometimes it really feels as if that is what is
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happening.brIf I get stuck, I use a rhyming dictionary, find an interesting synonym with
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thebrright rhythm, and use it to shape my line, but I don’t need to do that verybroften.
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Q.brWho are the boys in your Izzy Elvesbrstories?
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They are my grandsons. Their response has been interesting. Alex (at age three)
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pointedbrout that the story that he and his brother are in, has rhyming words in it.brOwen
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explainedbrto me that Tizzy, the Christmas Shelf Elf wasn’t real because 1) they don’t have
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anbrupstairs at their house, and 2) he doesn’t know how to turn on the Christmasbrtree
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lights,bras he does in the poem. I told him that was the “pretend” part. Alex was
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delightedbrbecause when he analyzed the illustration showing them in bunk beds, he
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wasbrthe one in the top bunk (he figured that out by the color of the PJs). They don’t
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havebrbunk beds, and Alex wants to get the top bunk if they do get them. Maybe he
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thinksbrthis establishes a precedent for his claim.
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Thebrboys in Dizzy, the Stowaway Elf are two more grandsons, Stuart and Drake. They
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alsobrargued about who should be shown in the upper bunk, as Stuart, the older, isbrthe
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upperbrbunker in real life and Drake, the lower bunker, apparently yearns to be topbrdog.
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Ibrrecently overheard Stuart explain to his little brother that I get up earlybrbecause elves
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popbrinto my head and wake me up. Not far from the truth.
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Ibrhave two more grandsons: Miles and Henry, but they are newborn twins, so I have
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awhilebrto figure out how to put them into a story.
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Q.brWhy are you publishing these storiesbryourself?
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After trying unsuccessfully to get the first of these published (as The Elf on the Shelf) I
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putbrthe manuscript on a shelf (if you’ll pardon the phrase) for nearly twentybryears. In
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November,br2011, I found out it was possible to publish on Amazon.com and decided to
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releasebrit myself. Of course, by then, I had to change the name to Tizzy, the Christmas
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Shelf Elf to avoidbrconfusion. I also changed the names of the kids to those of my own
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grandkids,brwho weren’t even born when I wrote the original story. Via the internet I
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foundbran illustrator, Michelle Alfonso, to create a cover for me. She had justbrgraduated
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frombrart school and was from Manchester, New Hampshire, not far from where I live.
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Thisbryear she fully illustrated the story. I discovered it was great fun to be ablebrto help
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shapebrthe marvelous images that she conjured up of all my elves.
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WhenbrThe Riddle of Penncroft Farm was being readied for publication, many years ago, I
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hadbrno input on the cover art that Harcourt Brace Jovanovich commissioned. Thus the
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originalbrcover showed Geordie as being somewhat transparent, a condition that would
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surelybrhave revealed immediately to Lars, the modern protagonist, that Geordie was a
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ghostbr(or “shade”, the term Geordie prefers). I told my editor that this made nobrsense in
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termsbrof the story, but Geordie stayed transparent.
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Ibrhave discovered that it is much more satisfying to work directly with anbrillustrator.
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Q.brWill Michelle Alfonso be illustrating thebrrest of the stories?
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Unfortunately, her schedule did not allow her to undertake more stories at thisbrtime.
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However,brI am hoping she might be able to work on one of the later sequels: I do love
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herbrpictures of my elves.
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Meanwhile,brI found two wonderful new illustrators to do the pictures for the next two
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IzzybrElves stories. Blizzy, the Worrywart Elf, illustrated by Shayne Hood, and Dizzy, the
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Stowaway Elf, illustratedbrby Andrea Agostini, are now available as trade paperbacks,
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Kindlebrbooks, and audiobooks. It has been great fun watching my ideas become visible
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asbrillustrations!
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Q.brWhy did you decide to record audiobooksbrof your own work?
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It’s not always easy to read poetry aloud, and my poem-stories are a littlebrlonger
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thanbrmany read-aloud books. I thought that parents, grandparents, or any grown-up
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mightbrlike to have a recorded version to play for their kids if they themselves just
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cannotbrstand the thought of reading one of my stories aloud for the umpteenth time. I
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havebrdone quite a bit of acting, and I’m comfortable using a microphone. I just readbrthe
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poemsbras if I were reading them to one of my grandchildren. In fact, I felt as if I were
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“acting”brthe role of an adult reading to a much-loved child. I found a terrific
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professionalbrrecording studio in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, Rocking House Studio, and
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hadbra wonderful time reading my stories aloud there.
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Q.brDo you have plans for merchandise basedbron these stories?
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A.brYes! Next year I hope to see Izzy Elf dolls in the hands of children. I am also
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planningbrto do an app for each story. After that, we’ll see!
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Q.brHow can I buy these stories?
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1.brPaperback editions of the first three books will be for sale at a booksigningbrby the
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authorbron Friday, December 13 from 5-7 p.m. and on Saturday, December 14
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frombr10-12 a.m. at Polkadots Gift Boutique, 902 Main St., Contoocook, NH.
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2.brPaperback editions can be ordered directly from CreateSpace:
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Tizzy:brhttps://www.createspace.com/4450940
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Blizzy:brhttps://www.createspace.com/4192849
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Dizzy:brhttps://www.createspace.com/4434931
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3.brKindle and paperback editions can be purchased at Amazon.com. The
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downloadablebraudiobook is available at Amazon.com, Audible.com, and iTunes.
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Youbrcan also order them via my website, dorotheajensen.com, or my Amazon authorbrpage:
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amazon.com/author/dorotheajensen. Paperbacks and Nooks are available at barnesandnoble.com.
Meet Dorthea Jensen in person at the following book signings:
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brChildren’s Author Dorothea Jensen Book Signingbr
brbrFriday, December 13, 2013br|br05:00PM – 07:00PMbrbr
brSigning paperback editions of new stories in verse: Tizy, the Christmas Elf; Blizzy, the Worrywart Elf; and Dizzy, the Stowaway Elf at Polkadots Gift Boutique.brRead Morebr
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brbrChildren’s Author Dorothea Jensen Book Signingbr
brbrSaturday, December 14, 2013br|br10:00AM – 12:00PMbrbr
brSigning paperback editions of new stories in verse: Tizy, the Christmas Elf; Blizzy, the Worrywart Elf; and Dizzy, the Stowaway Elf at Polkadots Gift Boutique.brRead Morebr
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