Author Interviews

Interview with Author Angela Hsieh and her graphic novel: Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology

By on October 22, 2025   /   Articles, Author Interviews, Diversity, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers   /   Leave a comment

Welcome to From the Mixed-Up Files, Angela! It’s a pleasure to talk to you about your amazing graphic novel, Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology. The graphic novel was released on May 27, 2025, by Quill Tree Books (HarperCollins). Here’s the blurb from Bookshop.org:

Lu dreams of being a great adventurer, just like her ah-ma, who is a world-renowned geozoologist. Ah-ma has traveled far and wide, researching unique animals like dreamy cloud-jellies, enormous sunfish, and playful mossgoats. There’s nothing Lu loves more than reading Ah-ma’s letters about her quests, even if she and her mom struggle to understand the Cylian language Ah-ma writes in.

But when Ah-ma’s letters suddenly stop, Lu becomes worried. So when a nearby town needs a geozoologist, Lu decides to go on the journey to find Ah-ma. She charts a course with the help of Ren, an old friend turned new travel buddy.

As they follow in Ah-ma’s footsteps, Lu begins to discover the complex relationships between geofauna—and between people. What stories has Ah-ma never told her? And what’s Ren hiding from her?

What is Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology’s origin story?

As I get to know myself as an artist and writer, I’m realizing that there’s no one single origin for any of my stories. Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology is a combination of things I love and that have shaped my life: animals and nature, the relationships with the people around me, and growing up as part of the Taiwanese American diaspora. That being said, I can show you the very first illustration I ever made in the world of Geozoology:

Several years ago, I made a birthday illustration for a friend who really loves guinea pigs. My thought process was: “What if guinea pig… but BIGGER?” To really set the scene, I wrote a short travel postcard-style description on the back with fun facts about this guinea pig mountain’s behavior and ecology.

Needless to say, my friend loved it. So did a lot of other people, it turned out. So I set about drawing more giant landscape-animals (with proto-Lu for scale) and writing facts about them. The project transformed several times: from a series of illustrations that I thought I might turn into a calendar, to a picture book, to a graphic novel (though one very different from the Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology that was eventually published). 

Four years passed between that initial illustration and signing the contract for the book; another four passed before it was published. That’s a lot of years for ideas to meld together, come apart, and change. That’s also a lot of time for me to change as an artist. 

Can you share Angela Hsieh’s origin story as well?

I was one of those kids who loved reading and drawing. I had a vague idea that it’d be cool to make a book one day, but I wasn’t one of those “one day I’ll grow up to be an author” kids, you know? I read lots of manga and comics and watched a lot of animated films, so I knew that other people were out there making cool stories, but it all felt impossibly distant for me. I also thought I’d be going into the medical field for the majority of my education, so making my own stories was lower on my list of priorities for a long time. 

I don’t think there’s any one specific turning point in my life when I decided to make my own book, but rather a collection of events that led me down this path. One such moment was walking into my local Barnes & Noble as a high schooler and picking up the Flight comics anthology. Until then, I thought of comics as either 20-volume epic manga series (unattainable by its enormity) or daily funnies (something I enjoyed but didn’t want to make). Reading Flight made me feel like making comics could be an achievable goal. The seed was planted. I didn’t do anything with this revelation until about 15 years later, after I’d gotten an undergraduate degree in biology and finished my illustration degree, but I got there eventually. 

When did drawing evolve into visual storytelling for you? Have you always been drawn to telling stories with your art, or is it more of a long and winding path to get where you are today?

I both drew and wrote from a young age, but I didn’t really take the idea of combining the two seriously until I was an adult. And even then, I didn’t find my way to comics until after I graduated from art school. I thought I’d be an editorial illustrator, which often requires a more symbolic/conceptual approach than a narrative one (though the two aren’t mutually exclusive). I found myself more drawn to the narrative approach than the conceptual one. I realized the things I wanted to say could not be encompassed by one illustration.

To be completely honest, I resisted making comics for a long time because of the amount of time and work they require. But at some point, I came to the conclusion that they’re the best medium to tell the kinds of stories I want to tell (at least for now), so I just had to take the dive. 

As a MUF STEM Tuesday contributor and career scientist, my reader’s radar activates when I see STEM used in a fantasy story.  You used real-life science and nature in Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology to create a believable world by grounding the fantasy with recognizable natural elements. How important was it to you to get the natural elements right, but with enough fantastical elements to engage the reader?

I hope I got that balance right! I was a nerd child who read Audubon’s First Field Guide: Birds from cover to cover. I also loved reading the Pokédex entries in Pokémon. Since Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology is more about exploring and learning about the world and less about, say, which geofauna would win in a wrestling match, I aimed for somewhere in between Pokémon and Audubon’s First Field Guide on the spectrum of fantastical to factual. 

In terms of telling a compelling story, the balance was less about fantastical vs. realistic and more about weaving the science-y stuff into the plot to such a degree that learning about the world felt like a natural progression of the story. I tried to approach worldbuilding in, well, a scientific way. If I change one thing (i.e., there are big animal mountains), what else will change? In a world where people have to live among these big animal mountains that move around, how would people interact with them? Some people, like Lu and Ah-ma, would try to learn as much as possible about them. If we follow these characters, we’ll learn about the world through their eyes. 

The geofauna’s behavior is based on that of real animals, and their geological features are based on real-life locations. The most fantastical things about them are that they’re (a) huge, and (b) made of rocks. Otherwise, most of their biology and ecology is pretty similar to the way nature works in real life. I didn’t feel the need to put a fantastical spin on something like hydrangeas changing color based on soil pH because it tied in neatly into the world and the story I was trying to tell. And because the natural world is already pretty magical, if you ask me. 

One part of your book I enjoyed was the use of the Cylian (Mandarin Chinese) language heritage to drive Lu’s interest, need, and frustration in understanding Ah-ma’s writings from her letters and travel journals. How challenging was it to incorporate the Cylian language into the story? (You did a beautiful job of this, by the way!)

Thank you! I very quickly came to the conclusion that whenever written Cylian showed up on the page, it would not be actual Chinese. The practical reason: My Chinese is not nearly at the level required to write letters, much less scientific field notes. The conceptual reason: Even readers who can read Chinese wouldn’t be able to read Cylian, so all readers would be put in Lu’s shoes when she struggles with the language barrier. 

My parents sent me to Chinese school when I was a kid, so my hand still remembers the shapes of the characters, even though I’ve largely forgotten what they mean. I was able to write characters that resembled Chinese, which, upon closer inspection, were incomprehensible. I took a lot of inspiration from Xu Bing’s installation, A Book from the Sky. I wasn’t aiming for semantic meaning as much as I was aiming for the emotional tension you feel when looking at something you “should” understand but just can’t wrap your mind around. 

Like many second-generation Asian Americans, I speak my parents’ mother tongue all right, even if my reading and writing leave much to be desired. My team and I went back and forth a couple of times when trying to figure out how best to represent Cylian (Mandarin Chinese) vs. Lirrish (English) dialog. We tried chevrons and colored speech bubbles, but we ultimately decided that the most elegant solution was to use colored text (purple for Cylian, black for Lirrish) and add a short note at the beginning to explain the difference to readers. The reader, like myself and Lu, will be able to understand spoken Cylian, but be at a loss when confronted with the written form. 

The drive Lu feels to understand the language deepens her connection with Ah-ma and reveals her strong curiosity about the world. How did you connect Lu’s curiosity to her problem-solving skills of following Ah-ma’s trail?

Curiosity and problem-solving often go hand-in-hand in real life. I find that people who want to understand how the world works are also the same people who’re driven to create interesting solutions to challenges. It only made sense to me that a curious kid like Lu would try to understand the world as her ah-ma, her idol, would see it in order to find where she’s gone. Lu wants to know things. The only way to know things is to go out and find answers!

Page 70 might be my favorite page of the book. It’s a masterclass on how to represent the passage of time and space on a single page. The four panels at the top of the page depict the passage from night to dawn and are set over a sweeping landscape establishing shot of Lu and Ren entering Ambyton. (Wonderful work in my opinion!) How difficult was it to come up with a solution to the problem of representing time and distance in such a compact space? 

Thank you! Playing with the passage of time is one of my favorite things to explore in comics, right up there with the page turn. It makes me feel clever when I’m able to pull it off, haha. One of the interesting challenges of making a graphic novel that involves a lot of traveling is showing the days on the road without the story dragging or the pages getting repetitive, but still getting across to the reader that days or weeks have passed. On a comic page, the gutter—that is, the space between the panels—represents the passage of time. More, smaller panels will slow the reader’s eye down and make it feel like more time has passed. It’s one of those things that I didn’t think about consciously when I was just reading and not yet making comics, but now that I’m creating comics, I’ve learned it can be used to great effect when done with intention. 

For this particular page, it wouldn’t say it was terribly difficult—mostly because I’d been itching to use this technique ever since seeing other artists do it. Shaun Tan has a breathtakingly understated spread in The Arrival that depicts a lengthy journey by ship via the changing shapes of the clouds, day by day, in a grid of sixty square panels. This is followed by a page turn to a splash page of the ship on the ocean, a small shape dwarfed by the cumulonimbus clouds towering above it. Just gorgeous. When I see someone do something well, I want to try it too. 

As creators, we are interested in the creative processes of other creators. In my graphic novel critique group, it’s an oft-discussed topic. Three members of our group are sketch-to-script creators, while I’m firmly grounded in the script-to-sketches camp. For your graphic novels, what’s your approach?

You can’t see me, but I’m giving you a script-to-sketches fist bump. I do some visual development ahead of time for characters and locations, but when it comes to the story, I have to write it down first. I don’t draw very fast, so I want to make sure the beats and pacing are right before I commit to drawing hundreds of pages. I work in a fairly straightforward way, from script to thumbnails to sketches/pencils to colors. (Since I worked in a lineless style for Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology, I skipped inks and went straight to colors.)

Having the script first means I can plan for putting speech bubbles on the page from the moment I begin drawing the book. I always make sure to plan the layout of the speech bubbles when I thumbnail. Dialog takes up a lot of space! Even with a “finished” script, I ended up cutting lines as I drew, trying to keep only what was necessary so that the pages didn’t feel overly cluttered. 

Do you have a critique group or a group of fellow creators/friends with whom you bounce your work and ideas off?

I do! I’m part of a few groups, both local and online. I’ve got a couple of trusted friends who see the early stages of my work, before they’re anything near a fleshed-out story, and I’ve got critique partners who see the more refined draft and help me work out the rough spots. I try not to bring too many critique partners into any particular story I’m working on. There’s definitely such a thing as too many cooks in the kitchen. 

I’ve got to give a special shoutout to Middle Grade Escapades. It’s not a critique group, per se; it’s a marketing collective made up of 2025 middle grade debut authors. It’s been invaluable to have the support of folks who’re also going through the same roller coaster of an experience that is putting a book out in the world.

Apart from art and your creative practice, how do you spend your free time?

I’m a big believer in doing things that aren’t directly related to my creative practice. It both expands my world and gives me things to make art about. I love baking. My sourdough starter from 2020 is still alive and contributing focaccia to the household. I also practice (very amateur) bonsai. Every time I pass my window, I can’t help but stop and stare at the little garden we’ve got out there. One of my favorite things to do is hang out on my couch with a book or a crochet project and a cat on my lap. I play D&D and do my best to carve out time to spend with friends. 

After the release of Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology into the world, what’s next on your plate? Book promotion? School visits? Back to work on the next graphic novel?

I’ve spent my summer jetting about the US on my self-styled “book tour”—as of writing this, I’ve just gotten back from the wonderful Bigfoot Kids’ Book Festival in Washington—and I’m ready to hibernate in my apartment and just work on my next book! Though I met many wonderful readers and fellow authors this year, book promotion takes a lot out of me, and I found myself without any energy left to create. I’m looking forward to getting back into the rhythm of making things again. 

The From the Mixed-Up Files family wishes you and Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology the very best of luck, and hope it finds its readers! Thank you, Angela, for being our guest! Your book is absolutely fantastic. 

Thank you so much for having me, Mike!

Links

Angela Hsieh Website

Kids Comics Unite! Interview

Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology Publisher’s Page

 

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DINOSAURS: Exploring Prehistoric Life and Geological Time – Interview with Rachel Ignotofsky

By on October 20, 2025   /   Articles, Author Interviews   /   1 Comment

Today I’m interviewing Rachel Ignotofsky author of Dinosaurs: Exploring Prehistoric Life and Geological Time. And boy oh boy is this a spectacular book of “educational art” (Rachel’s moniker)! Readers are taken on a visual journey through deep time from single-celled organisms to early humans (which happens to also include dinosaurs!)  Fans, like me, of Rachel’s What’s Inside books will be delighted discover that this book is another stunner – in art and information.

And now, let’s blast to the past!

Emily Starr: Kids love dinosaurs! That means there are a lot of dinosaur books. What made you want to create a dinosaur book, and how did you convince editors your book was different? (As if your incredible illustrations and focus on geological time don’t speak for themselves!)

Rachel Ignotofsky: This book is a lot more than just a Dinosaur book. It goes through Earth’s over 4.5-billion-year history! I have never seen a book do that with cartoony illustrations before. Of course, the Mesozoic Era, when the dinosaurs lived, is a real focus in the book, but I also talk about everything that happened before and after as well.

I also wanted the art in this book to really feel alive, pretty and even silly at times, but also make sure it was scientifically accurate. All my art is based on real fossil beds, so everything in scenes together are plants and animals that lived at the same time and place. With each turn of the page, you can see how much our planet has changed.

Emily Starr: I think most children (and adults) will be shocked to learn that “T. rex lived closer in time (by about 16 million years) to the first automobile than to a Stegosaurus, whose bones would be long fossilized by the time T. rex was on the hunt.” What other information from your research surprised you most?

Rachel Ignotofsky: I was amazed by how far technology has come looking at fossils, since I was a kid. For example, Scientists know the colors of certain dinosaurs by looking inside the microscopic cells of fossilized Dino-feathers. This is how they know that Microraptor had shiny black feathers just like today’s crow.

Emily Starr: It can be difficult even for adults to wrap their minds around the length of time represented by billions of years. Do you have any tips for helping children to understand vast timescales?

Rachel Ignotofsky: It is hard to understand deep time! For me, it really hit when I learned that the dinosaurs during the Jurassic Period were already fossils by the time the Cretaceous period, Triceratops walked around. Scientist have come up with a nifty system called the Geological Time Scale that breaks down earth history into Eons, and smaller and smaller units called Eras, Periods and Epochs. This helps you keep track of where you are in time, and I had a lot of fun using that system to create the chapters in my book.

There is also a great video showing all of earth history laid out on football field, where human history only took up 1/8th of an inch. That really helped me understand it as well!

Emily Starr: Illustrating animals that we have only seen fossils of is a unique challenge. How do you decide how to represent features that aren’t revealed though bone structure–like color, body shape and skin features?

Rachel Ignotofsky: Because the art in my book was very stylized, I had a lot of fun with what was unknown! You look at patterns and color combos that you find in nature to make something really cool. I also had my book fact checked by Paleontologist Dr. Thomas R. Holtz, and there were times that the colors of feathered dinosaurs were known for certain. When that is the case, I let facts tell me what to draw.

Emily Starr: What do you hope young readers notice in your illustrations?

Rachel Ignotofsky: There are a lot of little hidden jokes. I hope kids can find all of them!

Emily Starr: In your acknowledgements you mention your husband organized trips to museums and dig sites. What were some of your favorites? Were there specific details you learned during an in-person trip that you didn’t know from previous research?

Rachel Ignotofsky: My all-time favorite was U-dig Fossils. This is a shale quarry out in the middle of nowhere in Utah. You feel like you are on the moon in the desert, and you are surrounded by a giant mound of Trilobite fossils from over 500 million years ago.

I chiseled opened giant slabs of shale to reveal perfectly preserved trilobites that I got to take home with me! And I looked at my little fossils while drawing the Cambrian period creature feature artwork. Digging up my own fossils was so inspiring for making the art in the book.

Emily Starr: One of my favorite features in the book are the “Stories of Discovery.” They really connect young readers to the science of paleontology and spotlight how we know about Earth’s ancient creatures. Were there any interesting fossil sites that didn’t make it into the book? Similarly, are there any additional unbelievable organisms that ended up on the cutting room floor?

Rachel Ignotofsky: I wish I talked more about the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, which are filled with ice age animals like Giant Ground Sloths. Columbian Mammoths, and Saber-Toothed cats. The tar pits were a naturally occurring death trap that animals would fall into. It was also the perfect conditions to become a fossil. I love visiting the Tar Pit and the museum’s fossil lab is super cool!

One dinosaur that I wish I featured more was Spinosaurus. I did draw a small spot illustration for Spinosaurus, but wish I had the space to give this dino a larger feature. It was a large carnivore found in Africa that lived over 94 million years ago and splashed around swamps. Scientists think it had a large sail on its back that might have been part of an elaborate mating display.

Emily Starr: Do you have upcoming projects you can share with our readers?

Rachel Ignotofsky: I sure do! This March I am publishing a Dinosaurs Coloring Book and a sticker book called Dinosaurs: Stickerology. I am super excited to see what both kids and adults make with these hands on books!

Rachel Ignotofsky is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of Women in Science, Women in Sports, Women in Art, The Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth, The History of the Computer, and the What’s Inside picture book series. Rachel’s art has been embraced by the science community and she has spoken at and partnered with institutions like NASA, the San Diego Natural History Museum, The Field Museum, and many more. When she is not drawing, you’ll find her hiking and fossil hunting for fun.

Emily Starr

As a former fourth grade teacher and founder of StarrMatica, a STEM publishing company, Emily Starr has developed award-winning K-5 science curriculum and professional learning materials for 20 years. She is a member of the Iowa State Science Leadership Team, a peer reviewer for the National Science Teaching Association’s journal Science and Children, and a frequent presenter at state and national education conferences. Her debut middle grade nonfiction book will be released in 2026 from the Iowa Ag Literacy Foundation.

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Interview with Author Sara Shacter

By on October 16, 2025   /   Articles, Author Interviews   /   1 Comment

I have known author Sara Shacter since we were both on the newer side to writing for children. I am so excited that I got a first-look at her debut novel Georgia Watson and the 99 Percent Campaign which just came out October 14, 2025.

About the Book

Hi Sara! Congrats on your debut middle grade novel! Can you give us a short summary about the book?

After years of moving, Georgia’s family is staying put. What’s the best part of her new forever home? Fellow science fan Izzy! Georgia feels lucky to be starting sixth grade with her first true friend. But when Georgia’s science project accidentally reveals a secret—one Izzy trusted her to keep—their friendship unravels. Even worse, Georgia’s archenemy swoops in to steal Izzy away, leaving Georgia cut off and lonely. How can Georgia fix her mess? She’s surprised to find the answer in a science fact: genetically, all human beings are more than 99 percent the same. Really? Georgia can’t believe she and the friend-stealer are even 1 percent the same! But as Georgia fights to win Izzy back, she discovers that enemies can struggle with loneliness too—and Georgia is stunned to discover why. It will take a 99 percent campaign to make things right.

Who did you have in mind when you got the idea for this book?

Honestly, this book started out as a completely different story. I don’t even remember when it began to morph into what it is today. So I guess my answer is that I just told the story in my head and trusted it would speak to kids.

 

About the Author

Did anything from your childhood/school experience help shape this book?

The photo of the writing is evidence of a series of stories I wrote as a kid: The Adventures of Inspector Toenail. He was a giant toe who (that?) solved crimes. Why was he a toe? I have no idea.

In third grade, I dealt with a girl who constantly picked fights with me and tried to get the other girls to stop talking to me. Georgia’s nemesis arose from these memories. With an adult’s hindsight, I understand that my tormenter was unhappy and made herself feel better by picking on me. Wish I had known that back in the day! But at least I’m able to make that point in my book: most unkindness comes from others’ unhappiness.

Do you share any personality traits with Georgia (or one of the other characters)?

Definitely. I enjoy science, just like Georgia, and I like asking questions. As an elementary school kid, I had many, many friend worries.

Is there anything in particular from your childhood that you snuck into the book?)

When I was at music camp, there was a big, muscle bound jock of a counselor who loved to yell at kids. I always tried to avoid him. Then one night, we had a faculty concert. The counselors and music teachers could perform for the campers. To my surprise, he walked out on stage. He sat down with his baritone horn and began to play. His eyes closed. He swayed to the melody and melted into the music. Everything about the moment was beautiful. I sat in my seat gobsmacked. In Georgia’s story, the character Zelco is modeled after that counselor, though Zelco is a visual artist, not a musician.

What authors (and/or books) would you say influenced your writing style and/or this book?

Judy Blume. I loved her books when I was growing up: contemporary, realistic, honest. (Don’t do any math if you know when most of her books were published…)

You shared with me that you began writing this book over fifteen years ago. (I had a similar experience with my first novel!) For those writers who are surprised, can you explain why it sometimes can take years for a novel (or even picture book) to go from start to finish? And can you explain why this could also be a good thing?

I started this book when my twin boys were in 1st grade. Now they’re seniors in college! One reason it took so long was that there’s a steep learning curve when one writes a novel. I had to learn how to juggle characterization, pacing, theme, etc. After the 7th draft, I found an agent and she submitted to four editors. They all had the same critique: the emotional stakes weren’t high enough and there wasn’t a marketing hook. I knew pretty quickly how to solve the first problem but it took five months to find my hook. At that point, I deleted half of the book and rewrote it from the ground up. Then my agent and I parted ways (amicably). So I started submitting to editors on my own. Two years later, Regal House Publishing bought it! Most publishing houses take about two years from contract to publishing day. And that’s how this project took fifteen years from start to finish.

Having it take so long wasn’t all bad. The book that’s now out in the world is exactly what I had hoped it would be. In addition, I’ve met many writers along the way, been to many conferences, and I know what to expect post-publication. I have PR/marketing ideas, school visit contacts, and relationships with people throughout the industry.

Besides, during those 15 years I wasn’t just writing. I was teaching, raising my kids, helping my parents, and volunteering. We all have many identities, and that’s essential in this business. No matter how thrilling the writing life can be, it can also be unbelievably frustrating. Everyone needs other outlets to achieve balance.

 

Research/Writing

What was your original spark for Georgia Watson and the 99 Percent Campaign?

I have no idea! The first scene I wrote was about people who aren’t in the book doing things that don’t happen in my story. I don’t remember when it started to resemble what young readers will actually be reading.

Did you need to do any research for this book?

Yes. I needed to delve into genetics/heredity, spiders, and the life of Thomas A. Watson.

 Any scenes that you cut out? And why did you (or your editor) remove them?

Oh, yes! So many, and for so many reasons. One reason was that the external goal I had originally chosen for Georgia proved to be underwhelming. So all of that material got scratched. Her antagonist was also too mean at the outset. Unrealistically so. Hence those scenes got deleted and replaced. As Georgia’s character deepened over multiple drafts, I realized her actions were no longer true to her new self. More deleting and rewriting. I have to say, revision is my jam. The spark of creation is fun, but the molding and shaping is what I enjoy most.

 I like how your antagonist is multi-layered. Any words of advice for writers on shaping antagonists?

There are few villains who believe they are villains. From their perspective, their actions make perfect sense. So crawl into your antagonist’s world and look around. What has shaped that person? What does that person value? What are that person’s goals?

 

For Teachers

Do you have a curriculum guide or discussion questions posted online?

Coming soon on my website!

 Are you doing school visits related to this book?

Yes, and I LOVE school visits. I make sure there are good doses of active participation and humor. My presentation for Georgia is geared toward grades 3-6 and covers revision, genetics/heredity, the power of human connection, and the importance of believing in yourself.

How can we learn more about you?

Instagram/Bluesky/Twitter: @SaraShacter

Website: www.sarafshacter.com

 

Thanks for your time, Sara!

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