Award-Winning Author/Illustrator Nancy Patz Releases Her 14th Book

June 16, 2026 Alan Feiler, Editor-in-Chief

Nancy Patz: "I’m lucky that I found a vehicle in writing and art. I love the process of creating. Working is good. It keeps you busy and happy." (Photo by Robyn Stevens Brody)

Nancy Patz beams while looking around her home studio cluttered with sketches, easels, pens and brushes, notepads, books, figurines and art materials.

“Isn’t this absolutely wonderful?” she says with a hearty laugh.

For decades, admirers, associates and friends have said the same thing about Patz, a longtime Pikesville resident and award-winning children’s book author and illustrator.

Patz, who turned 96 in April, recently came out with her 14th book, titled “There’s a Dragon in the Tree House and He Won’t Come Down!” (Barranca Press).

The book was inspired by and produced with Patz’s grandsons, Benjamin and Daniel Fletcher. “There’s a Dragon” explores the unique dilemma of trying to coax a mythical serpentine creature out of one’s backyard treehouse and prevent him from spoiling an otherwise lovely picnic.

“I’d just finished a book and was visiting my grandsons in Virginia a few years ago when Benjamin, who was then 9, said, ‘I think you should do a book about a dragon,’” remembers Patz. “I saw the treehouse in their backyard and said, ‘There’s a dragon in the treehouse.’ So he became my consultant, and his older brother Daniel took the photos of the treehouse that I now use in the book.”

Inspiration for her books can surface from virtually anywhere, says Patz, a mother of two and grandmother of five. One of her most popular titles, “Babies Can’t Eat Kimchee” (Bloomsbury USA Children’s), came out of a random conversation decades ago with her granddaughter Sophie, who was then 3.

“We were eating bagels and lox, and her sister Olivia had just been born,” says Patz, who belongs to Pikesville’s Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom Congregation. “Sophie said, ‘Babies can’t eat salmon,’ and I just loved it. I told [her occasional collaborator and collagist] Susan Roth about it and we transformed it to kimchee because at the time Susan was trying to sell the concept to Korean publishers at a book fair. It all worked out so well.”

When contemplating that she’s written or co-authored 14 books – most, but not all, written for younger readers — over the past five decades, Patz admits she is stunned.

“Can you believe it? And I still love what I do,” she says. “I’m working on another one with Susan. If I have an idea, I’ve just got to do it and make a book. I didn’t know anything about dragons, but Benjamin’s mastery of information was very important for the newest book. He was really a superb consultant.”

A Northwest Baltimore native, Patz says her sense of creativity and whimsy dates back to her childhood.

“When I was in kindergarten, I wrote poems for people’s birthdays and anniversaries,” she says. “I’ve always loved prose and art. I’ve always drawn and I’ve always written. My father had an Emersonian command of the English language.”

During her younger years, Patz took art, drawing and fashion illustration classes at the Maryland Institute College of Art every Saturday. In addition, she majored in art and literature at Stanford University and took art classes at Goucher College.

“I had very good teachers and very good and supportive parents and parents-in-law,” she says.

Although several of her books have dealt with Jewish topics, Patz — whose Holocaust-themed book “18 Stones” was the basis of a 2011 Jewish Museum of Maryland exhibit — doesn’t necessarily consider herself a Jewish artist or author.

“I’m no more a Jewish artist than I am a Korean artist,” she says with a laugh. “But sometimes, it just comes out. I didn’t think of ‘Who Was the Woman Who Wore the Hat?’ [inspired by a display item at the Jewish Museum in Amsterdam] as a Jewish book, but it was. But I just never think, ‘This will be a good Jewish book.’ I just come from a good book point of view.”

Patz, who taught watercolor painting classes for nine years at the Park School of Baltimore, says each of her books requires at least a couple of years to conceptualize and complete.

“It’s a lot of hard work,” she says. “People don’t always realize that.”

For her children’s books, Patz says she never attempts to get on the same level as a child reader. She says it just evolves naturally.

“I just do what feels good to me,” she says. “For instance, I thought it was fun to say, ‘Pumpernickel,’ so I wrote [the 1978 book] ‘Pumpernickel Tickle & Mean Green Cheese.’ I like the sound of words. My father always used to say to me, ‘Use some silly words.’”

Patz struggles when asked about her favorite book in her oeuvre.

“They’re all so different,” she says. “‘Who Was the Woman Who Wore the Hat?’ was a very personal book and got to be about my mother. With ‘Pumpernickel,’ people see it and say it was the favorite book of their childhood. That happens a lot and that’s when you know you’ve really touched someone.”

Patz’s advice for budding artists and authors is to keep working at perfecting their craft.

“Just keep doing whatever you’re doing and be open to trying new techniques,” she says. “Most of all, do what you want and what gives you pleasure. Try to make it your main pursuit but if you can’t, keep it up as a hobby because it’s so fulfilling.”

As far as her secret to longevity in life, Patz points at a stationary bike.

“No one’s been on it for ages,” she says with a cackling laugh. “I don’t have a secret. I tell people, ‘I’m very lucky.’ But I find a lot of joy in life. I enjoy talking to people. And I’m lucky that I found a vehicle in writing and art. I love the process of creating. Working is good. It keeps you busy and happy. It’s great fun.”

For information, visit thenancypatzbookshop.com.