kidlit

Author Interview – Anna James – Alice with a Why

By on February 9, 2026   /   Author Interviews, kidlit, New Releases   /   1 Comment
Alice With a Why by #1 New York Times bestselling author Anna James (Pages & Co., Chronicles of Whetherwhy), illustrated by Matthew Land. AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD!

cover of Alice with a Why featuring a nest with book print in the middle with a cutout of the main character AlycePicture of Author Anna James - woman with long curly red hair

In this enchanting standalone retelling of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice’s granddaughter, Alyce—with a Y—finds herself tumbling down into a Wonderland at war. The once-whimsical world is now divided between the Sun King and the Queen of the Moon, and it’s up to Alyce, guided by familiar characters like the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat, to restore balance and find her way home.
As Kirkus raves, “This homage sparkles. Delightful in every way.” A pitch-perfect blend of literary nostalgia and fresh adventure, Alice With a Why both honors Lewis Carroll’s classic and reimagines it for a new generation.

 

Tell us why you decided to revisit Alice in Wonderland? Why was this story so inspiring for you?

I’ve always been fascinated by the original book – it’s such an important book for children’s literature and there aren’t many books that are as foundational to the collective imagination. The mix of wordplay and nonsense with so many iconic and beloved characters make it a really fun world to play in, but the relative lack of plot in the original allows a lot of space to create your own stories within Wonderland. 

I really enjoyed your mix of old characters (from the original Alice in Wonderland) with the new. How did you go about deciding who would be included from the original story and also what might compliment them with the new characters?

So firstly, I knew I wanted to only use characters that appeared in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (as opposed to Through the Looking Glass) so I had that list. And some were obvious like the White Rabbit and the Hatter who feel very integral to Wonderland, and I think people would hope to see. I really wanted to use the Caterpillar, but I only worked that out when a literal bookworm ate one of my books of poetry. Seeing all the tracks through the poems gave me the idea to make him a bookworm who has started smoking poetry instead of whatever he was smoking originally…! The main new character is the Fox, to whom my Alyce is sent, and who becomes her guide through Wonderland. This is a key difference between the original and my version, as Alice doesn’t really have anyone helping her; the Fox, while very much of Wonderland and its nonsense, is a steadier presence than anything that exists in the original.

So much of Alice in Wonderland is all the fun language choices, and you’ve captured that same feeling here beautifully. What was your writing process like to capture some of that essence of the original writing in Alice with a Why?

Thank you! This was both the hardest and the most enjoyable part of the whole book. I spent a lot of time just reading and rereading the original, and I also listened to a lot of nonsense poems on audio while wandering around the woods near where I live to try to get into those rhythms. I had a big list of idioms pinned above my desk as inspiration, too. I also really relied on Martin Gardner’s The Annotated Alice, which is a great resource for understanding all of Carroll’s references, so I went back to that often to try to sort of reverse-engineer that Wonderland feel. And then it was just a lot of trial and error—rewriting sentences until they had the right feel.

Some of the most vivid aspects of your story and the original is the setting. I think the setting is so important to your story, and I would love to know how you thought up the different settings in your story?

Wonderland really allows for a lot of flexibility; you can put almost anything in there.

Two of the key settings are the palaces of the Sun King and the Queen of the Moon, who are at war with each other. The Sun King was heavily inspired by Louis XIV of France, who was known as the Sun King and adopted the sun emblem as a symbol of power. He was also the king who transformed the Palace of Versailles and built the Hall of Mirrors, which is, of course, very Wonderland-coded. Accordingly, my Sun King also holds court in a hall of mirrors, although his courtiers are birds.

I took a lot of inspiration from history more generally; the place where Alice and Alyce live is inspired by Wrest Park, a stately home in Bedfordshire, England, that was used as a hospital during World War One.

What do you hope readers will take away from Alice with a Why (despite the ambiguous ending)?

As the last line suggests, I’m a big believer in letting readers take from books what they will but I certainly hope that readers who’ve lost someone will take some comfort from my Alyce’s journey through her grief at losing her father during the war. I think above all, I hope that young readers in particular come away feeling that words and language are a lot of fun. 

What are some of your favorite middle grade novels and why do you like them so much? 

My favourite middle grade author is Diana Wynne Jones who writes brilliantly quirky fantasy middle grade. My favourite classic is probably Anne of Green Gables, I think Anne Shirley is perhaps the greatest fictional creation of all time. More recently I’ve enjoyed reading Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell, Dragonborn by Struan Murray and Greenwild by Pari Thomson. 

Now that your book is out in the world, what’s the next step for you?

As we speak, I’m currently on tour in the U.S. to talk about the book. I love touring and meeting readers and booksellers! Once I’m home, I’ll be editing the third book in my Chronicles of Whetherwhy series (the second one is coming out in the spring in the U.S.), and then beginning to draft in earnest my second Wonderland book! I always wanted to write two to mirror the two Wonderland novels that Carroll wrote, so I’m excited to get properly started on that. I’m also working on my debut adult novel, a rom-com called Good Fortunes, inspired by Pride and Prejudice and coming out in spring 2027!

Is there anything else you want to share about Alice with a Why for our audience of teachers, librarians, and middle grade authors?

Alice With a Why is rooted in a deep love and admiration for the original, which I hope shows. I also hope that readers who already have a relationship with Wonderland enjoy returning there, and that readers who haven’t yet find a bit of magic there and are inspired to seek out Carroll’s original two books.

AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD!
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When the Hammer Builds the House: Grappling with AI in Kidlit

By on November 20, 2025   /   Articles, For Writers, kidlit, News, Op-Ed  

Two years ago I wrote an article about how to utilize AI as a tool in children’s writing. At the time, ChatGPT was still in its first iterations, and many creatives had only the faintest ideas about generative AI. In the middle grade world, authors were mostly just trying to figure out what AI would mean for them, if anything at all. 

I think it’s safe to say things have changed since then, and I wanted to come back to this topic with fresh eyes to see if the undertones of techno-optimism that permeated my first piece on the subject still resonate the way they did back in 2023. There are, after all, some new realities that authors must face head-on.

For one, it’s simply no longer accurate to say that AI writing is cheesy, formulaic, and easy to spot. Large language models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini have become astonishingly good at mimicking human authors in tone, humor, and even complex themes woven through longer pieces. YouTuber and developmental editor Alyssa Matesic recently did a side-by-side of AI writing and short stories written by professional authors, and the two were startlingly difficult to tell apart.

That also begs the question of how AI models have gotten so good. Since 2023, big tech companies have scraped vast libraries of unlicensed and copyrighted material to train their models. It’s a controversial topic, and too intricate to dive into here, but it has forced many authors to divert attention away from the creative process and think carefully about how to protect their work.

Still, the biggest issue probably isn’t about detectability or fair use, but the mere fact that AI writing exists at all. The very possibility of humanlike AI writing has cast a shadow over the legitimate efforts of human writers everywhere. Even the once-loved em dash has become a symbol of AI skepticism, with many authors consciously adjusting their tone and techniques to look less like the AI that used their writing to develop its own voice in the first place. It’s a strangely ironic dance that creators across all fields have been doing since generative AI exploded onto the scene in the last few years. 

So is it really fair to say that AI is “just a tool” the way I described it back in 2023? It would be a bit like a master craftsman returning to his worksite after a lunch break to find that his hammer had come to life and built the rest of the house without him. It sounds nice, but what if the craftsman actually enjoyed building houses? What if he’d spent his whole life learning to do it well? What if everyone then assumed that all his houses – countless hours of work – had been built by the magic hammer? 

So what is a middle grade author to do in this strange new world? Since this post is just around the corner from Thanksgiving, I’m choosing to slant toward gratitude. Even in this weird and sometimes scary landscape of publishing in 2025, there are quite a few things to be thankful for.

 

Authors are fighting back and winning.

A U.S. federal judge gave preliminary approval to a $1.5 billion settlement between Anthropic PBC and authors who alleged nearly half a million books were pirated to train AI chatbots. It’s a major win for writers wanting more accountability from AI developers.

Readers want human-made books.

As AI writing continues to permeate the book market, consumers are becoming more vocal about their preference for human work. In a recent poll by YouGov, well over half of respondents reported that they’d feel less fulfilled after learning a book they’d read was authored with AI. There are also new projects popping up like the “Human Authored” initiative from the Authors Guild. It’s a promising sign that readers are rediscovering the incredible value of human connection and contribution.

 

As a tool, AI is only getting better.

In its rightful place, AI continues to be a transformative technology that can untether creators and allow them to make and explore more than ever before. As a research tool, for example, AI cites its sources with more accuracy than it did back in 2023, and it can also summarize and synthesize material extraordinarily well. Even for this piece, which is admittedly a bit skeptical of AI’s prevalence overall, I used AI tools to find sources and make connections. I just had to keep that hammer locked up in the toolbox when it came time to write, design the art, etc. Many have equated this dynamic with letting AI “do the dishes”. Artificial Intelligence can handle the chores so creatives can do the fun stuff (although not all the time, as we learned from NEO — skip to 2:55 for a good laugh).

 

So have I changed my mind about AI over the last two years? Should you? These are questions worth exploring, but let’s not spend too much time perseverating on a dynamic that changes almost daily. 

After all, we’ve got writing to do.

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Interview with Graphic Novelist Liza N. Cooper

By on November 6, 2025   /   Author Interviews, kidlit  

I’m absolutely delighted to welcome Liza Cooper, author of Meems and Feefs, to the blog today! I can’t wait to hear how these adorable characters came to life. As someone who once had a ferret named Fern, I’m especially excited to learn what sparked the idea for this charming story.

Lisa: Tell us about MEEMS & FEEFS.

Liza: Meems and Feefs are two ferret brothers from a planet called Ferretonia, more specifically , from Dook Dook Island. They’re mischievous, adventurous, and always getting into trouble –but their friendship is at the heart of everything they do.

Feefs, the darker ferret, is calm and loyal. He’s great at navigation, can sniff out anything, and always follows Meems into adventure, usually without thinking twice.  Book cover of Meems & Feefs

Meems, the lighter one, is a curious inventor. He’s always tinkering with tools and experiments – usually things he probably shouldn’t be touching. He wears a little tool belt, carries his red screwdriver everywhere, and keeps goggles on hand for when things inevitably blow up.

Lisa: What sparked the creation of these lovable characters?

Liza: That’s a great question! I actually had two ferrets, Meemoo and Feefoo, nicknamed Meems and Feefs, and they were the direct inspiration for the series. When we first got them, my husband and I each got to name one. I chose the lighter one and called him Meemoo. My husband, being the copycat he is, named his Feefoo. And that’s how the names of the two ferret brothers were born. They even shared the same colours and personalities as the characters in the books.

Feefoo was the laid-back one, but incredibly skilled at finding hidden stashes and snacks—so his navigation talents made their way into the stories. He was very loyal and sweet, always following me from room to room. Meemoo, on the other hand, was more independent and mischievous. He loved stashing things and getting into trouble. He was also half-Angora, so he had longer fur with little tufts around his face, which you can see in his character design.

I started drawing ferret comics because, when I first got them, I realised there were loads of cat and dog comics – but almost nothing about ferrets. As an artist, I thought, “Why not make my own?” My first comic, Ferret Anatomy, went viral right away, and I think it proved my theory that ferrets were seriously underrepresented online. It’s been amazing seeing how much more love ferrets get now. Honestly, I like to think of it as a bit of ferret propaganda.

Lisa: Do you start with words, images or a mix of both?

Liza: I always start with words. That’s how I’ve written all my comics, even the short ones on Instagram. More specifically, I usually begin with the punchline or the ending. It’s much easier to build a story when I know where it’s going. I like to think of it like planning a trip – once you’ve booked the destination, you can handle any detours along the way, but you still always know where you’re headed.

So once I have my ending, I work backwards: where does it start, how do we get there, and what happens in between? For Instagram comics, I keep it casual, but for the books, I write full scripts, almost like movie scripts, so I can visualise the pacing, the setting, and how the characters interact.

I also break the story down by pages so I know how much text and action fits on each one. I try to make every page end on a small “cliffhanger” or a moment that makes you want to keep reading. After that, I move on to sketching, layouts, and panels – but it all starts with words first.

Lisa: How do you balance the storytelling between text and art?

Liza: My goal is always to show, not tell – but I’m quite a chatty person, so naturally, my characters end up being quite chatty too. I always try to balance that by showing as much as I can through expressions, little visual easter eggs, props, and the environment. Anything that CAN
be conveyed visually, I prefer to draw rather than explain. Illustration of Meems & Feefs embracing

That said, because Meems and Feefs is a middle-grade graphic novel, I can’t make everything too subtle or rely entirely on visual cues – kids still need the story to be clear. So the challenge for me is making sure the dialogue feels natural and fun, but trimming it down enough that the visuals still carry the story. Honestly, it’s the same struggle I have in life – trying to talk less and be more concise, haha!

Lisa: Were there any graphic novels or comics that made you want to create your own? 

Liza: When I was growing up, there weren’t many graphic novels around, but I was always drawn to books with pictures. I’m a very visual person, so even a few illustrated pages helped me connect with the story more deeply. Graphic novels just felt like a natural fit for me. What really pushed me to create my own, though, were webcomics. I loved their accessibility and creativity – people just putting their stories out there. And beyond that, I was heavily influenced by the cartoons I grew up with. To name a few, and to give away my age a little – Courage the Cowardly Dog, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Rugrats, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers. Sonic the Hedgehog was my absolute favourite, and you can probably see some of that energy in Meems and Feefs.

I’ve always been drawn to small, scrappy characters thrown into big adventures. I love that sense of scale, tiny heroes facing enormous odds, and I think that’s something I’ve carried into my own work. The anthropomorphic side came naturally; animal characters are expressive, fun, and full of fluff.

I was also deeply inspired by Simon’s Cat, where I worked as an Art Director for several years. Simon Tofield, who created it, really shaped how I approach storytelling through observational humour and grounded character moments – and he even kindly provided a quote for my first book!

Lisa: Is there something you wish more people understood about making graphic novels?

Liza: I think a lot of people don’t realise that most graphic novels are made by just one person. You’re writing, sketching, inking, colouring, editing, basically doing the work of an entire studio on your own. It’s a huge process that takes a lot of time, patience, and organisation. On top of that, many creators, myself in luded, also handle their own marketing – creating previews, social posts, and reaching out to readers so the book actually gets seen. So you’re not just the artist; you’re the writer, project manager, and marketing team all in one. People are usually very supportive, which means a lot, but it does make it hard to reply to everyone or take on every collaboration. I always try my best, though, it just takes time when you’re a one-person studio.

Lisa: Is there a panel or page in the book that was especially fun or challenging to draw?

Liza: There are several pages like that, but one that stands out is when Liza arrives at Ferryway Hall for the trial, and all of the ferrets from the Dook Dook Island are there. I included some of my patrons’ ferrets as background characters, which was really fun to draw. It was tricky to give each little ferret a hint of personality without pulling focus from the main story, while also making the hall feel grand and slightly intimidating to Liza. Getting that sense of scale, architecture and atmosphere right was challenging – but really rewarding once it all came together.

Another scene I loved working on was the chase sequence. You’ll see it in the book: Liza, Meems, Feefs, and Leeloo are sprinting through the halls of the Citadel of Ferrets. I wanted it to feel fast-paced and energetic, so I angled the panels diagonally and varied the environments to make their escape feel alive.

Throughout the book, I’ve really focused on keeping each page visually exciting. One thing I’ve enjoyed most is experimenting with perspective, moving the “camera,” changing angles, and showing the characters from new viewpoints. It helps with the mood and storytelling flow, but
it also makes the artwork feel more dynamic. Of course, that means a lot of perspective lines in my sketches, but it’s worth it when it all comes together.

Lisa: How long does it take to complete a graphic novel from start to finish?

Liza: It definitely takes a long time. My first book took about a year to complete, and the second one took closer to two, partly because I had a baby in the middle of it. Adjusting to life with a newborn, then a toddler, meant I had to pace myself and take a bit of a maternity break. Even with some help on the colouring, creating nearly 200 pages – writing, illustrating, and designing the world – was a huge task. Thankfully, my publisher was really understanding, and my editor, Erinn Pascal, has been just incredible. She’s helped me grow so much as a writer and has been supportive every step of the way.

The next book is already in progress, and I’m hoping to have it out within a year, so hopefully readers won’t have to wait too long this time!

Lisa: Do you have any upcoming projects you’re excited about?

Liza: Right now, I’m working on Book 3 of the Meems and Feefs series. I’m actually sketching potential cover designs as we speak! This book will wrap up the trilogy, explore more of Ferretonia’s lore, and reveal a few surprises I’m really excited about. It’s a huge project, so I’m trying to stay focused and not overload myself with too many side ideas – though I do have a Quest Based pet board game concept waiting in the wings for after it’s done.

I’m also planning to pitch a few new book ideas soon, with the help of my amazing agent, Kathleen Ortiz of KOMedia Management. She has a real gift for shaping stories and making them stronger. Meems and Feefs actually became a trilogy because of her, she saw the potential for a bigger adventure when it was originally just one ferret story. Liza Cooper

Lisa: What advice would you give 12-year-old Liza?

Liza: I’d tell 12-year-old Liza to stop worrying so much about the future and just enjoy where she is. You don’t need to have everything figured out yet – things fall into place when you trust yourself and keep going. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, take chances, and most importantly, keep drawing and imagining stories. And I promise, you DO get to own a ferret one day. Actually… more than just one!

Lisa: Thank you so much for visiting the blog and for taking the time to share with us! It was a real treat to learn more about your writing journey and the inspiration behind your work. Your insights were both encouraging and inspiring, and I know our readers truly enjoyed hearing from you. We’re grateful you stopped by. 

About: 

Liza N. Cooper is an artist and digital content creator who goes by the pen name Siberian Lizard online. Originally born in the wild and frosty Siberia, she has since settled down in a much warmer (and wetter) London, where she lives with her two naughty ferrets and a Pomeranian puppy. 

For more information, please visit her website. 

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