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Graphic Novelist Interview: Katharine Woodman-Maynard

By on December 29, 2025   /   Articles, Author Interviews   /   Leave a comment

Graphic Novelist Interview: Katharine Woodman-Maynard

 

It’s such a pleasure to spotlight the immensely talented Katharine Woodman-Maynard today on the Mixed-Up Files blog. She’s a graphic novelist whose gorgeous and faithful adaptation of Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting is getting all kinds of well-deserved attention. Kirkus says it’s “as wise and wonderful as the original” in its starred review, and School Library Journal says Katharine “achieves the seemingly impossible task of enhancing a much beloved classic” in its starred review. It also made a few best-of-2025 lists—Kirkus and SLJ! Congratulations Katharine and welcome to the blog! 

Tuck Everlasting: The Graphic Novel, by Natalie Babbitt; adapted and illustrated by K. Woodman Maynard

In this timeless story about immortality, friendship, and growing up, young Winnie Foster learns of a hidden spring in a nearby wood and meets the Tuck family, whose members reveal their astonishing discovery of the spring’s life-changing power. Now Winnie must decide what to do with her newfound knowledge—and the Tucks must decide what to do with her. But it’s not just the curious girl who is interested in their remarkable tale. A suspicious stranger is also searching for the Tucks, and he will stop at nothing until he finds them and uncovers their secret.

From Newbery Honoree and E. B. White Award winner Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting is a modern-day masterpiece that has been a staple on home bookshelves and in classrooms and libraries for half a century. Drawing closely from the original text, it is now brought to visual life in K. Woodman-Maynard’s gorgeous watercolor artwork. The perfect book for new readers and long-devoted fans alike, Tuck Everlasting: The Graphic Novel is sure to be an all-time favorite for every generation.

 

Interview with Katharine

What drew you to adapting this story into a graphic novel?

Tuck Everlasting speaks to my soul in a way that few books do. I’m also only interested in adapting books where I feel that the graphic novel medium can add something to the story. And what so draws me to it—the wonderful descriptions of the magic of nature, the symbolism, the vibrant characters, and the profound and deceptively simple message—are also what would make this book ideally suited to the graphic novel medium.

How did you figure out what to include from the original version and what to leave out? 

I take adaptations very seriously. I only work with source material that I love and I try to be as truthful to it as possible. This doesn’t always mean a literal interpretation—sometimes I have to make minor changes or tweaks to the pacing or content to better suit the graphic novel medium, but I believe the most important thing is to keep the essence and the emotions of the book intact because that is one of the things that made a book so beloved in the first place. Of course, I have to cut down quite a bit on the amount of text that I include compared to the original book. And I try to show as much as I can with the art even when there isn’t room for all of the text.

What was one of the most challenging aspects during the creation of this book?

I struggled with how to condense the start of the book. In the original, which I love, there’s quite a bit of narration before you get to the plot. In interviews, Natalie Babbitt talked about how kids complained of how slow the start of the book was, so I knew I wanted to get to the action faster. I ended up moving some of the narration to later in the chapter, once the reader was hooked to the story. And I added in a map of Treegap, where much of the story takes place, and included narration with it in order to make it more visually interesting while still conveying information to the reader.

Can you describe your artistic process for creating the spreads of this book? And do you have a favorite spread? If so, why?

I work in a lot of iterations and start out working very sketchily and bit by bit the work becomes more and more refined. I switch between digital and traditional mediums depending on where I am in the graphic novel process. I digitally create the line art using the app Clip Studio Paint and then print it out on watercolor paper and watercolor it by hand. Then I scan the art back in and add in the text, speech bubbles, and panel borders digitally. It’s a ton of work, but I love it.

My favorite page spread is when Winnie enters the Wood for the first time. I love the tree branches used as panel borders and the idea came out of a diary comic I made about how much I love being in the woods and the wonder and beauty I feel there.

 

How did you come up with the gorgeous color palette and what do some of your color choices mean?

I collected various art for inspiration but really it was a lot of trial and error based on the mood I’m trying to evoke in the book, and how the watercolors work together when mixed or layered, and side by side on the page. I try to limit the color palette for each scene and it’s not necessarily realistic to the real world, but the emphasis is more on the emotion of the scene. I also had to consider if a specific color is necessary to include in the scene, like whenever The Man in the Yellow Suit appeared, I needed to use yellow in that scene.

I love the intricate details in your book, like the meaningful chapter title pages and the swirling, twisting dialogue of The Man in the Yellow Suit. Can you describe why you made some of these artistic choices?

I’m always interested in ways I can use the graphic novel in interesting ways and speech bubbles and panel borders are unique to the medium. As with most of my choices, it’s about enhancing the mood of the scene. So, for The Man and the Yellow Suit, his speech bubble tails are more snake-like, to match his character. And they wrap around Winnie’s parents when he tries to blackmail them which I find really creepy.

What are you working on now? 

I’m working on an original middle grade graphic novel. It’s a little early to talk about it, but I’m excited to work on my own story although I love classics. I also work as a writing and art coach for graphic novel creators looking to level up their stories with an eye towards publication.

Thank you so much for joining us on the blog today, Katharine, and for sharing about your creative process! 

All About Katharine

As a child, cartoonist K. Woodman-Maynard grew up with undiagnosed learning disabilities and struggled to learn how to read and write. Instead, she dove into the world of storytelling through her art, which is what she continues to do to this day. K.’s debut, The Great Gatsby: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, was called “hugely rewarding” by The Wall Street Journal. She’s a graduate of Harvard University, where she studied animation, and has worked as an animator, designer, and illustrator for companies such as Capital One, TOMS, and Nickelodeon. In addition to making graphic novels, K. leads workshops; works as a comics coach; and has a weekly Substack newsletter, Creating Comics, where she encourages artists to create more and feel less bad about themselves in the process. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her spouse and an enthusiastic dog.

Find Katharine here: Creating Comics Substack Newsletter, Instagram, TikTok, Website, Tuck Everlasting: The Graphic Novel

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Let’s capture personal stories

By on December 19, 2025   /   Articles   /   Leave a comment

The winter holidays often bring stories to the table. I think this is the perfect time of year to encourage middle graders to capture their family stories. We can draw parents into reminiscing about growing up, encourage grandparents to tell how they or their grandparents migrated to find their own homes, or how they fell in love, created their families, and chose a variety of holidays to celebrate. We can ask about childhood memories that capture a snapshot of history from a personal perspective. In doing so, we’re encouraging middle graders to gain perspective into the struggles and successes that built their communities and families.

My own kids, who were adopted, have a wide range of emotions about these assignments and they embrace these as part of their stories. I love hearing how they hold the stories coming out of their legacies. One of my daughters has two Ancestry trees; her adopted family tree and her birth family tree. A son wants to learn more about his ancestors who were poor farmers from another country. He’s visited the land of his birth. And he was also close to his adopted grandparents and wants to share their stories. Both of my daughters like to share stories of the relationships they have with birth and adopted siblings and parents.

In reality, most of our stories usually only go back one or two generations before we lose sight of why ancestors left their native countries and how they traveled across the country we now live in.  I can trace my family back to the Revolution on my maternal side, but I only know my father’s grandfather was a lumberjack buried in the Northwest. I don’t know how or why my Irish ancestors came to the US on that side of the family. That helps me realize that my children’s responses to family histories is often complicated but it’s also rich. Asking a classroom full of diverse kids means some will balk at telling stories because they’re not traditional, or they’re sad, or confusing. How do we tell stories of leaving a country we love while fearing persecution or poverty? What happens when the parents who raised us have no choice but to send us away? Even when we stay together and remain in the land of our birth, we have stories that should be love-filled but also might include frightening, sad, or lonely events that no one wants to talk about.

I sent myself down a rabbit hole of imagining forgotten stories and how kids can fill in lost histories. My search also focused on the need to talk openly about emotions and how we respond to our own stories. What writing prompts can we offer to bring out these stories? What can we offer kids who don’t feel they have sharable memories?

Memoirist and publisher of She Writes Press Brooke Warner focuses on great guidance for finding and sharing memories. While we think of memoir as truth telling, we also recognize that telling a family story doesn’t always mean others see events in the same way we do. Teaching kids to write personal stories means we need our writers to understand that our stories tell our own emotional truth and two family members might not see the story in the same way. We might tell kids that we interpret meaningful moments in the ways they impact us. That is our truth. Warner focuses on this important distinction when she says. “Emotional truth allows you to fill in those blanks with what would have happened based not on what you remember, but on what you know. What you know, for instance, is how your mother would have reacted to your dad not coming home one night, even if you don’t recall the exactness of the scene you’re writing in which that happened.”Brooke's craft of memoir

She suggests writers take advantage of “memory pops” or those small snapshots of life that pop into your head without any context. The writers’ job is to provide a context musing about what led up to that memory pop and what followed.

To find these “memory pops,” we might ask questions such as what is the first time you remember experiencing joy, or sadness, or hunger, or peace? What is your first memory of your grandparents? Can you tell us about a journey you were excited or afraid to take?

For more information on writing memoir, Warner has written a great guide, Breaking Ground on Your Memoir.

 There are tons or game-like resources that writers can use to draw family stories out. Tales is one intriguing game that might be brought into a classroom to wake up those memory pops.A game for families

Warner refers to the Disney film Inside Out.  While the film focuses on emotions which always provide a flow of writing ideas, it also follows characters into a memory dump, a site where memories are buried. That might be a great motivator for kids to consider what happens when we leave our memories behind and what gold we might find if we help ourselves or our family members to recall buried memories. I’d take it a step further and ask family members to re-describe a scene from their perspectives to capture multiple viewpoints. The film’s concepts have been re-imagined as a series of books that teachers and librarians might add to your shelves.A film about understanding feelings

Family HistoryNovels are also a great way to get middle graders thinking about how stories shape lives. Two of my favorite are Lisa Yee’s Maizy Chen’s Last Chance which used a unique framework of story within story to show Maizy’s history, her mother’s, her grandparents, and her great grandparents’ stories.

Dan Santat’s graphic memoir, A First Time for Everything, provides readers with insights into being an only child and gaining independence.Gaining Independence

Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn Dixie is a great look at single parent families.Single Parent Families and community

When I consider most middle grade novels, family history finds its way into the script so use your imagination and bring the books you love to your students. Help them discover the family stories and use these as beginning discussions to get them writing.

We don’t have unlimited budgets to bring in books and movies and games, but we have a ton of imaginative ideas for story starters. Here are some writing prompts I’ve used with students from middle grade through college. Feel free to bring them into your classrooms and, please, feel free to share your ideas in comments:

  • Bring in a recipe that you love. Write about the experience of making this or tasting this for the first time. Or students can write a recipe and talk about how it might make them feel to make this or eat it.
  • Find an old photo and write about the circumstances you believe surround the snapshot. Better yet, have students bring photos or create illustrations to tell their family stories and turn these into books that students can bring home as family gifts.
  • Write down a few memory pops and then fill in the story around that pop.
  • Bring in a grab bag of different smells or flavors and have kids pick them with their eyes closed. Write about any memories that these smells bring to you. Of course, make sure, ahead of time, that you’re not including any allergens.
  • Define what is old.
  • Interview a parent or grandparent about their native land. Ask them why they left or stayed.
  • Interview family members about the best day of their lives, the worst day of their lives.
  • Write about what makes you happy, sad, fearful, hopeful.
  • Where do you spend family celebrations?
  • What do you celebrate in your home?
  • What do you wish your family could do together?

For more ideas than you could ever hope for, here are a few websites:

Resilient Writers – 100 New Writing Prompts for Memoir Writers

Storii – 70 Question Prompts to Capture Childhood Memories

Writer-ish – 50 Impactful Memoir Writing Prompts to Get You Writing TODAY

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Interview with Simon Stephenson, Author of The Snowman Code

By on December 15, 2025   /   Articles, Author Interviews   /   Leave a comment

Today, let’s give an enthusiastic Mixed-Up Files welcome to writer and screenwriter Simon Stephenson, author of the debut MG novel, The Snowman Code. The novel, first published in the U.K. in 2024, and illustrated by Reggie Brown, has been praised by The Guardian as: “Sparkling, humorous, and poignant.” It’s out tomorrow (!!!), December 16, from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

THE SNOWMAN CODE: A Summary

It’s March, and London is experiencing its longest winter since 1773. The ground is covered in snow, and ten-and-a-half-year-old Blessing hasn’t gone to school in months. The horrible Driplet Triplets have made sure of that by bullying her mercilessly. If Blessing’s mom weren’t so sad all the time, she might be able to help; but Mom won’t get out of bed, or even go to work. And the longer the winter goes on, the more depressed she becomes. Blessing is scared that she’ll be separated from her mom—again.

Just as Blessing is about to lose hope, she meets an unexpected new friend: Albert Framlington, a six-hundred-year-old snowman. Albert holds the key to solving Blessing’s problems, but he has a problem of his own, and he needs a human’s help. Can this unlikely duo find a way to help each other, and to overcome the never-ending winter? Or is it too late?

Interview with Simon Stephenson

MR: Welcome to the Mixed-Up Files, Simon, and huge congratulations on the U.S. publication of your debut MG novel!

SS: Thank you! We are now one day out from “Snow Day” and I am excited.

MR: Can you tell MUF readers a bit about The Snowman Code, as well as the inspiration behind it?

SS: I think you summarized it brilliantly in your introduction. The Snowman Code is the story of a ten-and-a-half year old girl, Blesssing, and the six-hundred-and-something-winters-old snowman, Albert Framlington, she befriends. The story takes place during the longest winter London has ever known and they must team up to try and end it.

The inspiration comes from a few places. In my previous job as a children’s doctor, I’d worked with kids like Blessing and since that time I’d always wanted to write something they might see themselves in. Likewise, growing up in Scotland, snowmen featured regularly in my childhood. Writing films for young people finally gave me the confidence to tell this story.

A Real Blessing

MR: Blessing is an incredibly likable character, with highly relatable problems—including getting bullied at school and dealing with her mom’s depression. What is the secret to writing such real, three-dimensional characters?

SS: I appreciate that. I think when you are writing something with fantastical elements – i.e., a talking snowman – it helps to keep everything else as plausible as possible.  I think for me, as much as anything that tends to involve mixing the light with the dark. There is a version of a snowman story where it is all happy-magical-fantastical-unicorn-land and there is a version of Blessing’s story where it is all sad and downbeat. In life I think the truth often lies somewhere in the middle, and that is where I try to land. The way Blessing encounters her problems is the way kids do: those problems are a part of their life, but not the whole story. At heart, all kids are just kids.

MR: Blessing forms a deep friendship with Albert, a six-hundred-year-old snowman.  On the surface, they have little in common, but their bond is strong. What were you trying to say about the pair’s unlikely friendship, and about the nature of friendship in general?

SS: I liked the idea of two headstrong characters – a kid who knows she is usually right, and a snowman who usually thinks he is right – teaming up on an adventure together. I never set out to talk about friendship in general, but it does always seem to come out in my work. I think perhaps it is just one of the most important parts of life as a human, and if you are going to write about humans – and even snowman – it is inevitably part of that.

The Impact of Climate Change

MR: Another overarching theme in the book is climate change. We see this in London’s “broken weather,” where the city is experiencing the longest winter since 1773. What sparked your interest in this topic, and what do you think the takeaway is for readers?

SS: Sadly, I think climate change is just a fundamental part of our lives now, and it’s part of the conversation about seasons. I remember every winter of my childhood as having at least one good snow, and now we are lucky in Scotland if we get one every couple of years. In the specific world of the book, I think this goes back to the idea that if you are writing about something magical, it helps if it has a dose of reality to it.

British vs. American Editions

MR: Setting is another important aspect of the book. What made you choose London? (I know you lived there, as did I.) Also, The Snowman Code was first published in the U.K., in 2024. Are there any notable differences between the British and American editions?

SS: I miss London! I worked with kids like Blessing when I lived and worked in East London, and so it seemed the natural place. Victoria Park, where Albert lives, was my local park and everything else in the book — the canal, the flower market, the hospital – is drawn from life.

The UK and American editions I think are the same except for some spelling changes. But after 12 years of living and working in America I did recently discover that we use the word “quite” in different ways. In British English, “quite” means somewhat, whereas in American English it means “very.” A phrase like “quite good” therefore means either “somewhat good: or “very good,” depending on which side of the Atlantic you are on. This seems important information and I think they should tell you it on the plane.

MR: I totally agree! 🙂 

The Leap to MG

MR: This is your first MG, but not your first book. You’ve written several for adults, including Set My Heart to Five (2020), which is being adapted into a movie and for which you’ve written the screenplay. What prompted your decision to take the leap from adult books to MG? 

SS: I’d always wanted to write for young people, and it just took me a while to get there. After working on the movies Luca and Paddington 2, I got sent a lot of children’s books as potential adaptations and it just seemed like it’d be fun to write my own.

Writing for the Silver Screen

MR: This brings us to your movie-writing career: As above, you’ve written for Pixar’s Luca, Paddington 2, and The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. How does your job as a screenwriter influence your writing?

SS: I think one thing screenwriting teaches you is economy. A screenplay is only about fifteen or twenty thousand words, so every word has to count. I try to bring that to my prose and edit pretty ruthlessly. (F. Scott Fitzgerald cuts everything he writes by half, and that seems about right.)

MR: Speaking of movies, are there any plans to adapt The Snowman Code for the silver screen? I can see it as a gorgeous, animated feature. (I’m guessing you can too. 🙂)

SS: Yes! We are currently having some interesting conversations about this, so watch this space.

Simon’s Writing Routine

MR: What does your writing routine look like? Do you have any particular habits or rituals?

SS: Get up. Drink coffee. Bang head against desk. Repeat.

I do my best to eliminate distractions, so I block the internet on my computer and turn off my phone. I work best in a quiet coffee shop and luckily there is one right near where I live.

MR: What are you working on now, Simon? Enquiring Mixed-Up Files readers want to know…

SS: So, currently there are a few different things on the boil: adaptations of my two previous adult books, and then some screenwriting things besides. My ambition for 2026 is to write another book, so hopefully will be settling down to that in early January.

Lightning Round!

 

And finally, no MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

Preferred writing snack? Gummy bears. Not just my preferred writing snack, but also my preferred meal.

Superpower?  Flying would be pretty great, but I will happily take whatever is available.

Favorite season? I mean, I think I had better say winter. (I live in southern California, so it is no great hardship here.)

Zombie apocalypse: Yea or nay? Absolutely. If we are going to have an apocalypse anyway, we might as well go all in, right? Here in LA, many people keep “earthquake kits” – grab bags containing water, flashlight, batteries etc. I have a joke with my friends that mine just contains zombie make-up, because that would be fun and a good way make sure nobody bothers you.

Favorite way to dress a snowman? I’d better cite Article 4 of the snowman code, which stipulates that a good disguise consists of a raincoat, waterproof trousers, sunglasses, a hat, a scarf and a pair of gloves. (Pictured here: Simon’s late brother, Dominic, the subject of Simon’s memoir, Let Not the Waves of the Sea.)

If you were stranded on a desert island with only three things, what would they be? My fiddle so I can finally get some practice in, a bicycle of some sort, and Moby Dick so I can finally find out what happens in the end.

Favorite place on earth? The west coast of Scotland in the summertime, which is three days in June and you can never predict the three days.

MR: Thank you for chatting with us, Simon. It was a pleasure to learn more about you and your books, and I’m sure MUF readers will agree!

Thank you for having me! I’m grateful for your support (and Albert and Blessing are too!)

All About Simon

SIMON STEPHENSON is a writer for adults and children, and is a screenwriter. Before he became a full-time writer, Simon was a physician. His latest novel, Sometimes People Die, was published in 2022.  Simon has written two other books, Set My Heart To Five (2020), and Let Not the Waves of the Sea (2012), a memoir about losing his brother. The book won Best First Book at the Scottish Book Awards and was serialized on BBC Radio 4. Simon has also worked as a writer on various films, including Pixar’s Luca, Paddington 2, and The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. Like every other Hollywood screenwriter, he has a drawer full of unproduced scripts and forgotten promises. He lives in Los Angeles. Learn more about Simon on his website.

Melissa Roske is a writer of middle-grade fiction. Before spending her days with imaginary people, she interviewed real ones as a journalist in Europe. In London she landed a job as an advice columnist for Just Seventeen magazine. Upon returning to her native New York, Melissa contributed to several books and magazines and selected jokes for Reader’s Digest. In addition to her debut novel Kat Greene Comes Clean (Charlesbridge), Melissa’s short story “Grandma Merle’s Last Wish” appears in the Jewish middle-grade anthology, Coming of Age: 13 B’Nai Mitzvah Stories (Albert Whitman). Learn more about Melissa on her Website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

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