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Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview, a repeating feature for the last Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

Today we’re interviewing Jon Chad, author and illustrator of  The Periodic Table of Elements. Understanding the Building Blocks of Everything published by First Second a division of Macmillan.  The graphic novel gives rare insight into the anxiety children experience the night before the test. In this case, the young girl, Mel, faces apocalyptic fear over the next day’s test on elements. When she falls asleep she’s transported to a land where elements control the narrative and push her boundaries. There, she has to recover a book of science experiments and stop the evil Elemancer in his fortress modeled off the Periodic Table. The Jon Chad describes this story as part chemistry, part dungeon crawler!

“Solid gold.” —Kirkus, starred review

“A fun scientific romp with a Black girl protagonist; perfect for middle grade readers who need a chemistry review or a clever introduction to the periodic table.” —School Library Journal

Christine Taylor-Butler: How did you get started illustrating? Did you draw as a kid?

Jon Chad: Yes. I’ve always been a drawer. My mother and grandfather were artists so I was always encouraged to pursue it with love. I started drawing vocationally in 2009. I studied sequential arts (comics).

For college, I went to Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). In my early years I was illustrating picture books for a publisher in Massachusetts about sports mascots for gift stores – for example: Atlanta Braves, Louisville Cardinals. I was a great chance to work with editors and learn about making files ready for publication. But on the side I was working on comics. I was fascinated by self-published comics and inspired by the field of artists making books. I wanted to make something novel – something that would push against expectations of what a book should look like.

CTB: So what early work did you create?

Jon: I created Leo Geo. The handmade comic is long and narrow but you read it vertically. It’s about a guy who goes to the center of the Earth. I wanted to see if someone could read a comic without panels and understand the plot without getting confused. All through the book the character is spouting off facts about various things. Leo Geo was published along with a other self-published books.

Comic without panels

Eventually an editor at Roaring Brooks/Macmillan asked if I would do a book more focused on geology. I was willing to play ball and it was an amazing experience. We too often separate fiction and nonfiction culturally. We have a fear of young reader’s ability to absorb information.

I think there are a lot of examples of things we can point to that are wildly successful. For example, people now know there is more than one way to peel a potato (i.e. teach a child). We use videos, lectures, literacy types, etc. There are proven studies that show that comics can tap into cognitive ability. Allan Paivio talks about the dual coding theory of cognition: verbal representations and mental images. Graphic novel formats are helpful in this way. The proximity of words and pictures often has a greater success in teaching kids.

This knowledge fuels my artistic ambition. To create integrated works that give kids a rewarding story while teaching them about the world around us. I don’t think I’m hoodwinking my characters. I try to write my science comics aspirationally and think about where the readers are. But I’m ambitious. I think we underestimate their interest and capability. If someone is picking up a volcano book then they are ready. And I make the information not integral to the understanding of the plot. I want all the readers to connect with the story first – that’s part of my promise.

CTB: Is it difficult to translate facts into the story?

Jon: No. I can build a classic story while using the material. The facts build and become more complicated. And then when the stakes are the highest – the biggest most complicated topic – it comes.

CTB: Which is harder – authoring or illustrating?

Jon: I am intimidated by writing. I don’t consider myself to be a strong writer with words. So when I think of these books, I have a two page synopsis of what the story is going to be. Then I move on to a sketching phase because I’m better at that. I make tiny sketches so I can see how the book will develop – this is about metals, non-metals, etc. Then I put the information into a document where it can become a conversation between the text and the images. Do the images need to change or the illustrations? How do they support each other?

Thumbnail layout of book

Also, because kids have such an incredible access to media and narrative fiction – what is the potential prior exposure that a kid has to a topic I am writing. For instance – lava. Where does a kid get information about lava prior to reading the book. Is it Super Mario Brothers? A movie or show? So I’m looking at contemporary media to see if there are examples. For example, video games such as Minecraft may talk about how diamonds are formed. Once I see those examples, I think “how can I build off that?”

CTB: Where did the idea of doing this book on the Periodic Table?

Jon: When I make books about various STEM topic I want them to mix and match up. There’s a universe where you could have a periodic table that’s couched inside of a narrative – like a 50’s surfing narrative. So I was looking for the genre/theme that would fit the periodic table. I felt like I was exploring the elements. They mix and match. There are similarities between some of them. Some of the qualities of the materials felt so wildly alien.

I’m a big D&D nerd. I love going inside a dungeon. So I have the reader go into a dungeon that contains some sections of the table. And the elements have properties that show up in the characters. For example, I could have the different monsters. Some are aggressive. Others are easily startled.

So now you can have a situation where the emotion and actions of the elements are similar to their properties. And a reader can explore the same role playing that I did as a child.

CTB: It’s clever doing the periodic table as a graphic novel/comic. And using the character’s angst gave me flashbacks to having similar fears when I was a student. We study and still never feel prepared.

Jon: Yes – Mel is really paralyzed by her fears. I had huge test anxiety when I was in school but at the same time I knew all the information. I could have used some of the confidence that Mel gains by the end of the book.

CTB: Graphic novels are complicated. How long did it take to do this book?

Jon: The first round of thumbnails was done starting in April 2021. My final version was July 2022. So that’s about a year. It takes me about 12-20 hours to do a page of comics. I’m counting from the drafts to the final edits. I do the thumbnails, balance the images with the text, pencil it for approvals, then add ink. Then I wait for approval. Afterwards I scans the images and begin doing digital coloring, shading and word balloons.

CTB: Sometimes adults have a hard time getting their head around the idea that STEM can be embedded in speculative fiction for kids. You created a book about the periodic table that embedded so many facts and drawings about the concepts. It’s seamless. Is it hard incorporating all of that science into the narrative?

Jon: It’s hard but also easy. I have a lot of practice. There is not an upper ceiling in what you can make accessible to young readers. Physics of Life in Germany is a biophysics facility focused on using physics to understand biological organization. I work on POL Comics with them. It’s a ten week graphic project which you can read for free on the site. The first page I did was “Surface Area versus Volume”. Then I did Surface Tension. After that the comics moved to subjects where I had no experience. So I had long conversations with doctoral subjects to simplify the topics so readers could understand them. Like DNA looping, or cellular energy costs. It reinvigorated me. I really could take any topic and have it understood. It is always useful to have the concepts illustrated.

I’m always paired with an expert who can give me feedback. Also curriculum experts. That takes it out of the hands of the editors. Working with experts who know what a kid who is supposed to be learning.

CTB: Do you have any books coming out next?

Jon: Yes, but a lot of what I’m working on is a bit on the horizon. However last year I created two graphic novels called “The Solvers.” I took what we talked about in the science comics and applied those concepts to math. Sometimes there is sterility when we are talking about numbers. One book covers multiplication and division. The other covers decimals and fractions.

CTB: Thanks for joining our blog this month, Jon. This has been one of the most fun interviews I’ve done in a while. And we’re impressed at your ability to see that books can be sophisticated and still readable for children. I would like to urge readers to look at Don’s substantial body of work covering science in comics. It’s a great way to help encourage young readers to learn about the world and how they can create their contributions or solve problems. And most importantly? STEM is not a separate pursuit. STEM is everywhere!

Jon Chad lives in Vermont and is obsessed with giant robots, screen-printing, and bookmaking. He is the illustrator of Science Comics: Solar System, and the author of Leo Geo, Science Comics: Volcanoes, Science Comics: The Periodic Table of Elements, and Pinball: A Graphic History of the Silver Ball. Jon Chad’s newest graphic novel series, The Solvers, uses comics, and superhero action, to teach mathematics to young readers.

Jon lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter (and a beautiful cat!) You can find him at @JonChad on Facebook, and @Jonchlaunch on Instagram.

Photo by Kecia Stovall

Your host is Christine Taylor-Butler, a graduate of MIT and author of The Oasis, Save the… Tigers, Save the . . . Blue Whales, and many other nonfiction books for kids. She is also the author of the STEM based middle grade sci-fi series The Lost Tribes. Follow @ctaylorbutler on Bluesky, @ChristineTaylorButler on Instagram, and @ChristineTB on X. She lives in Missouri with a tank of fish and cats that think they are dogs.