Sylvan Sketches: The WheelWraith

"Like a forest scooter," Gloria said proudly.

When you contact the Spy with your questions, we’re happy to help. Sometimes those questions are easy to answer—Yes, I’m planning to write the next Casey Grimes book—and sometimes they take some extra work.

“What does a WheelWraith look like?” was a question that took some extra work. But it also gave me the chance to create a new kind of post that we’re calling Sylvan Sketches. This is Sylvan Sketches #1.

As you probably know, WheelWraiths first appear in Trickery School, book #2 in the Casey Grimes series. What’s a WheelWraith? Again, maybe you know, but without giving away any big plot points, here’s what the book has to say. Consider these sketch clues.

“Like a forest scooter,” Gloria said proudly.

“A what?” Casey said.

“Kind of a military-grade Segway,” Dad said. “Less dumb-looking though.”

…

Casey stood on the slim, self-balancing platform between the two huge, dangerous-looking wheels. The joystick steering and acceleration took some getting used to, but he was quite good by now.

Casey stepped off the Wraith, dropping the semi-rigid control cord.

…

Casey jumped onto the WheelWraith and woke it in one motion. A second later, he was rolling into the shadows of Lesser Trick ’n’ Trap, sword gripped in his left hand, lantern knocking his elbow.

He’d never been more grateful for the Wraith’s one-handed operation.

– Trickery School

So as you can see, the story gives some clues about what a Wraith might look like. But it doesn’t give you a snapshot, so different imaginations will come up with different versions. And that’s what we’ve got here—some sketches from different imaginations. So without further ado…

This picture from ten-year-old Flannery shows the joystick and some extras that appear in a future book, The Fiery Crash. Notice the sidecar and the camo paint job? Since I happen to know Flannery (she’s my kid), I’ll point out her lovely imagination. In her mind, the dangerous, spiky wheels look a little…flowery. Which is totally ok. She could take this sketch to the next level by coloring in the camo.

Here we’ve got a stripped-down Wraith from thirteen-year-old Miles. He may have sacrificed some detail, but the minimal approach points your eyeballs right at the spiky, dangerous wheels, which is cool. (Miles is also my kid.)

Next up is this well-executed model from fourteen-year-old Ezra. You can tell he paid attention to the bits of description that show up in the book. The semi-rigid control cord is wrapped around the t-bar—which we know from Fiery Crash is retractable. In other words, once a rider gets comfortable on a Wraith, he or she can stow that t-bar away and just use the control cord and joystick. By the way, Ezra is also my kid, and I have to say…

…I feel like he stole from my drawing. Yeah, this one’s mine, and it was a mistake for me to leave it out on the dining room table, but I was kind of proud of it. Notice the grippy, high-traction platform, a detail I’m quite happy with. I didn’t get the wheels quite right—the closer one looks like it’s about to fall off or maybe already has. But hey, as you know if you ever try to draw things, perspective is tricky. If I did another sketch I could get it right (I think). This leads us to our final drawing.

And sixteen-year-old Asher is just showing off. Yeah, he’s also my kid, so I can say that. He’s got multiple views of the Wraith, he added a kickstand/step, and he even has some ideas on the suspension system and joystick design. This is pretty fantastic, which is what you’d expect from someone who illustrated our Gloria Grimes picture book and coloring book. Look at those hungry-looking tires, so spiky the rider has to be protected by wheel guards. I do have to point out that it’s not clear how the joystick detaches from the t-bar if you decide to stow the t-bar away. I guess no illustrator is perfect. ;)

And it’s a wrap on our first Sylvan Sketches.

Ready to try a sketch of your own? Hopefully so. Download a printable Sylvan Sketch page and give it a try. Here’s what that looks like.

Let’s end with a little WheelWraith trivia. In Trickery School, who rode on a Wraith—and why? Know the answer? Hit reply or comment and tell me. You can also send along your ideas for the next edition of Sylvan Sketches. Got an item, a person, a monster, or a place in the Casey Grimes books you’d like to suggest? We had fun with this one so we’re planning to do more!