Posts Tagged graphic novels

Author/Illustrator Interview with Casey Lyall and Sara Faber: The League of Littles

Casey-Lyall-Author-Photo

Casey Lyall

We’re excited to have Casey Lyall and Sara Faber on here today to talk about their new release: The League of Littles.

Hi, Casey and Sara, let’s start with learning a bit more about you, and then we’ll talk more about your book.

Sara Faber photo

Sara Faber

Did you have any childhood dreams for when you became an adult? If so, did they come true?

Casey: For sure! I went through a ton of different dreams for myself, but the one consistent one was always wanting to be a writer, so I’m always very thankful and happy to have that particular dream work out.

Sara: I had so many dreams as a kid, and one of them was to become an illustrator. I always loved the characters I saw on book covers, in comics and cartoons, and from a young age I tried to draw them, but back then I didn’t know yet that this was a job. And once I knew, I thought this must be the best job ever! Turns out, I still think it’s the best job ever. 🙂

Sounds like both of you have found your dream jobs. Speaking of books, did you love to read as a child? If so, can you tell us some favorite books?

Casey: I was a massive reader as a kid (and still am!) Summer reading club at the library was one of my favourite times of the year. I loved so many different books—too many to list! But some of my favourite authors were definitely Gordan Korman and Madeleine L’Engle. I think I read every single one of their books.

Sara: I was a big bookworm as a child, and I still am! I grew up reading the Harry Potter series, the Inkheart series, and another fantasy series called Laura, but I believe it was published in German only.

Please tell us a little about your family. Were you a Little? Big? Middle? Only?

Casey: I’m actually a middle child. I have an older sister and a younger one and luckily, they both have a great sense of humour.

Sara: I am the oldest of two! My sister is 10 years younger.

Sara Faber as a child

Sara Faber as a child

Did you have any hamsters or other pets when growing up?

Sara: I had two Guinea pigs when I was a kid – their names were Fips and Trixi, and two birds, Mozart and Beethoven. Later, when I was around 9 or 10, we also had a family dog – a brown Labrador named Gina.

Casey: We had Guinea pigs too! And some fish for a while, but we were definitely a cat family. There have been quite a few memorable felines in our household.

Would you be willing to share an embarrassing grade school moment?

Casey Lyall as a child

Casey Lyall as a child

Casey: I think I’ve tried to banish most of them from my memories! But, okay, here’s a good one: I tried out a lot of different sports as a kid and was not particularly good at any of them. Probably the most memorable incident happened when I was on the swim team. I can’t see very well without my glasses, so that was problem number one. Also, the goggles I had one weren’t working properly and kept filling up with water so I just had to close my eyes and hope for the best.

During this one race, I thought I was doing okay, but then bumped into the lane marker (these floating line things that kept that swimming lanes separate) and got a bit tangled up in it. I kept going though! And finished the race! …and then found another very confused kid at the end of the race in the same lane with me because I had accidentally moved into their lane when I got tangled into the marker.

That was pretty embarrassing!!! (And I think I got disqualified too, which was uncool.) My swimming career didn’t last very long. 😂

Oh, no! That would have been  embarrassing. I hope that story will find it’s way into one of your books sometime. I’m sure plenty of middle graders (and adults) have felt that way.

Sara: This is such a tough question. There is absolutely nothing that comes to my mind. I was a very shy and quiet kid, so maybe there wasn’t much that could have been embarrassing, since I tried to be invisible most of the time. 🙂

What advice would you give to kids who are bullied?

Sara: It breaks my heart when I see kids being bullied. As a parent myself, I think it’s especially important in today’s day and age to raise kind and compassionate people. My best advice is to ignore bullies as best as you can, but I know it’s easier said than done. And to talk to someone you trust, don’t deal with it on your own. It’s only when you get older, you will understand that the people who bully others feel like they need to bring others down to make themselves feel better. It’s not really about you, and there is nothing wrong with you. You are perfect just the way you are!

Casey: I agree with Sara’s very smart and kind words above. She said it best!

I love this advice, and that your book deals with this situation.

Casey, when did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Oh, wow—I don’t know if I can even think of a specific age. I remember reading Robert Munsch books when I was little, and they made me laugh so much, I wanted to tell my own stories and make people laugh like that. I feel like the desire to tell stories has always been a natural part of my life. And something that I’m grateful my parents always encouraged.

Sara, when did you know you wanted to be an illustrator?

I knew I wanted to become an illustrator when I first found out that it’s an actual job. I remember I saw the word “illustrator” on a book and asked my great grandpa what it means. That was when I knew this is my dream job, even though I had no idea what to do in order to get there. It was only when I graduated from uni (I studied something completely unrelated) that I decided to work on improving my drawing skills and try to become an illustrator.

Casey, what is your favorite or most challenging part of being a writer?

I think my favourite part might also be the most challenging part! I love having that spark of an idea and getting to see that idea take shape into a fully-realized story. You go through so many twists and turns and discover things about your characters that you might not have realized at the start. It’s always an adventure! Now, on the flip side of that, at certain points, trying to get that story to take shape can be the most frustrating and challenging thing of all time and can feel like you’re banging your head against the keyboard…but the end result is always worth it. 😃

Sara, what is your favorite or most challenging part of being an illustrator?

My favorite part is definitely being able to draw every day for a living, and to express myself through art. With comics specifically, I love telling stories through facial expressions and body language, and to put it all together in an interesting and fun way. As much as I love drawing, showing up every day is also one of the hardest parts sometimes – especially when I don’t feel like drawing, because that happens, even though it’s one of my favorite things to do.

League of Littles coverCasey, can you tell us a little about why you chose to write a graphic novel and if you worked together to create the story and illustrations?

I wanted to challenge myself with a new format and it also seemed like a fun category to write for so I decided to give it a try. It was really cool to learn about the process! I tried to leave a lot of space for the illustrator to put their own spin on things, and there was a lot of collaboration from the whole team in terms of the general look of the story and how the scenes came together.

Casey, how did you come up with the characters & the idea of Littles banding together to help each other?

The characters came to me as I was brainstorming—I do a lot of doodling and pre-writing before I start a project so they started to take shape before the real plot of the story did. And in terms of the general premise, I was just trying to think of ideas that would be fun to write and fun to read and it popped into my brain! I’ve always liked the idea of secret organizations though so that probably fed into it a bit. Who doesn’t love secret shenanigans?

Casey, what inspired you to write about an escaping hamster?

I was trying to think of a realistic problem that a little kid could have that would also leave room for it to spiral into bigger adventures. Borrowing a sibling’s pet for show and tell felt like it fit that criteria and then once the character of Chester took shape, he pretty much took charge of his own story and I just tried to keep up!

Sara, how did you develop the characters for the illustrations?

Casey gave me some great descriptions for each of the characters including their heritage, personality, and their hairstyles. After reading the manuscript, I already had a pretty good idea of how the characters would look and act. After that I sketched a character line up, to make sure they look good individually and as a group, making sure their appearance matches their personality.

Character sketches

Sara’s character sketches

Thank you so much for sharing your sketches with us! I love your palette and the softness of the final illustrations. Can you tell us about your art technique?

Thank you so much! My art style developed over the years, and it’s very inspired by anime, Disney movies, and cartoons I loved as a kid (I still do). I love soft and warm colors in general, and I think this reflects in my art as well. When I draw for work, I use my iPad and Procreate, which is great because it makes revisions and making changes easier, and I can theoretically draw from anywhere, but in reality, I sit at my desk most of the time. 🙂 When I draw just for myself, I love drawing with a pen in my sketchbook. I love to keep it simple regarding the tools I use and to focus on lines, which is my favorite part about drawing.

Are any of characters based on based on people you know?

Casey: No, they’re all their own people. I just tried to come up with a fun mix of personalities for each team that could balance each other out and play off of each other at the same time.

Sara: I mostly used Casey’s descriptions for the designs. For some of the characters, I created a Pinterest board before coming up with their designs, but these served more as a general inspiration for how they would move and what they’d look like and weren’t based on a specific person.

Casey, what do you hope readers will take away from your story?

A lot of laughter!

What are you working on now?

Casey: All kinds of things! Mostly new middle grade and picture books ideas at the moment.

Sara: I am already working on the second book of the League of Littles, which focuses on the big siblings! The story is so much fun. I can tell you that much already. 🙂 I’m also coming up with my own story for a graphic novel on the side.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In The League of Littles, Eli, Lexi, and Mo, three trainees at an international organization that supports the needs of youngest siblings, accept their first mission and help find a lost hamster.

“A group of youngest siblings are challenged by a hamster on the run. . . . A brief, amusing romp with potential for future fun.”  — Kirkus Reviews

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Casey Lyall is the author of Gnome Is Where Your Heart Is; Waking the Dead and Other Fun Activities; the acclaimed picture book A Spoonful of Frogs, illustrated by Vera Brosgol; and the popular Howard Wallace, P.I. series. She lives in southwestern Ontario, Canada, where she also works at her local library.

Sara Faber is an illustrator and comic artist, and when she is not drawing, you can find her reading, soaking in the atmosphere of coffee shops and bookstores, and going on walks with her dog. The League of Littles is her first book. Sara Faber lives in Germany.

From the Classroom: Using Graphic Novels to Explore Transitions

Let’s face it – students in the middle grades face lots of transitions. These can be moment-to-moment transitions (i.e. we’re best friends and five minutes later we aren’t), place-to-place (i.e. moving or starting a new school), and body-to-body (i.e. what is puberty doing to my body?!). Authors Rene Rodriguez-Astacio and David Low recommend using Superhero Graphic Novels to help students navigate these transitions as the graphic novel medium, with spaces between panels, force middle grade readers to fill in the gaps which can contribute to them doing the same in their transitioning lives.  And superheroes, in particular, are super popular with this age group!  Below are some superhero graphic novel titles, how they can support middle grade readers with all the transitions they face, and how teachers might consider using them in the classroom.

Spider-Man

cover of Miles Morales Shock Waves graphic novel with miles morales running in center of the cover.

In Miles Morales Shockwaves, Miles Morales, a biracial middle grader, helps raise funds for Puerto Rico to support his mother’s lost family home after an earthquake. He organizes a block party sponsored by Harrison Snow, CEO of Serval Industries. Miles (as Spider-man) is led to uncover a conspiracy when it is revealed that Snow is providing financial support to Puerto Rico to excavate valuable crystals unearthed after the earthquake. Rodriguez-Astacio and Low recommend that teachers provide some background on the relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico, especially in light of the 2020 earthquakes and the 2022 devastating hurricane. This graphic novel explores the various transitions associated with identity, place, and family, something middle schoolers may be facing.

Ms. Marvel

Cover of Ms. Marvel, Stretched Thin with Ms. Marvel running away from a helmeted villain.

Ms. Marvel’s super power is her ability to contort her body, but in Ms. Marvel – Stretched Thin, Kamala Kahn wakes up with big feet and a lack of control on how to fix them. This funny image is a great metaphor for the awkwardness of puberty and the various ways middle schoolers often don’t have control over their bodies. All the various ways Kamala’s body contorts throughout the book relates to the coming-of-age themes in the book and middle schoolers accepting new responsibilities, often with great struggle. Ms. Marvel can relate as even though she may do one thing well, her inability to excel in every aspect of her life leads her to feel like a failure. Kamala feels like she is stretched “too thin” when trying to be successful at everything and she is also literally stretched thin! Teachers can use graphic novels like Ms. Marvel (or the Hulk or the X-men) to examine the literal and metaphorical representations of body change and how gender, race, class, and power create different contexts with which transitions occur and are interpreted.

Finally, Rodriguez-Astacio and Low remind us that graphic novels should be seen as more than “transition books” for reluctant or resistant readers. Graphic novels are great for interpreting deep issues and themes. In the comments below, share what types of books you use to help with all the transitions your middle grade readers face on a daily basis!

On The Move: Traveling with Diverse Graphic Novel Characters

 

As a bookseller, I meet so many kids looking for graphic novels. Some seek fun, best-selling titles like Dog Man and Captain Underpants, others are eager to explore the varied landscape of stories in this section.

 Controversy

Naysayers don’t consider graphic novels as ‘real books.’ Luckily, this myth is beginning to be seen as just that. As Betsy Bird in her SLJ Review of Mexikid  points out, “Comics for kids are considered ancillary. Secondary. Less important than novels. . . . A book with words and pictures can be as stirring and important as a book that’s just words alone.”The popularity of middle grade graphic novels is also indicated by the fact these titles top the sales charts.

Reading graphic novels offer young readers a sense of accomplishment, visual literacy, and practice with inferencing.

Diversity

Graphic novels, with their strong visuals, page turning plots and relatable characters provide kids with windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors into new experiences. These books allow young readers to see themselves, and consider different perspectives.

(Thank you, Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop )

 

Check out this list of recently published diverse graphic novels that take readers on different journeys – from road trips across the U.S. to visit relatives in Mexico to school trips to Europe, to trips to a parent’s Hong Kong hometown, and more. The characters in these novels come from diverse backgrounds and their exposure to people who are different from themselves expose them to new ways of life.

 

 

A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat

Dan is anything but excited when he leaves his small town in LA for a school trip to Europe. He is accustomed to constantly being bullied and made fun of and believes nothing is going to change. As he tours France, Switzerland, Germany, and London, he makes new friends and learns about these countrys’ cultures. It is a trip of firsts; Dan meets his first girlfriend, and for the first time finds confidence in his drawing skills. With hijinks and humor, this heartwarming graphic memoir gives readers a glimpse of the 1980’s.

 

 

 

 

Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir by Pedro Martin

Pedro travels 2,000 miles in a Winnebago with 11 family members to meet his legendary grandfather in Mexico. He is not thrilled to be going to meet his Abuela, a tough, crime-fighting man who supposedly fought in the Mexican Revolution. Along the way, he meets cousins, has a brush with corrupt border officials, and helps his brother with his bout of diarrhea after drinking raw milk. The trials and hilarious tribulations of Pedro’s road trip result in revelations about his grandfather and his brothers and sisters, who are divided between those who were born in Mexico and those who were born in the U.S., like him. Young readers are sure to pick up some Spanish words and learn about Mexican culture along with Pedro.

 

 

 

Saving Sunshine by Saadia Fauqi, illustrated by Shazleen Khan 

Zara and Zeeshan, twins who constantly fight, are thrown together on their family trip from New York to Key West. The Pakistani American brother and sister couldn’t be more different. Zara is grounded in the world of animals and nature, while Zeeshan prefers to explore outer space. When the twins stumble upon a sick loggerhead turtle named Sunshine, they find common ground and collaborate to help return the turtle to the sea. Through flashbacks, readers learn about the experiences of the parent’s experiences with immigration and Islamophobia as well as the incidents of racism that Zara and Zeeshan faced at school. Big issues of environmentalism and identity are addressed along with the challenges of being a twin.

 

Uprooted by Ruth Chan

Ruth is sad to leave her best friends behind in her beloved hometown of Toronto when she moves to her parent’s hometown, Hong Kong. Her new life isn’t easy, she doesn’t speak Cantonese, her father is often away from home for his new job, and her new schools is very difficult. Ruth’s father tells her stories of the hardships he encountered growing up in the 1940s. He relates how his family survived fleeing from the Sino-Japanese War. Ruth’s internal journey into her father’s past gives her strength to cope with the changes in her life.

 

 

 

 

School Trip by Jerry Craft

In this companion novel to award-winning New Kid and Class Act! Readers reconnect with African-American Jordan and his group of friends. As an 8th grader, accepted to the art school of his dreams, he has to make a big decision. Should he attend a new high school and leave his friends behind? These thoughts stick with him while traveling on an exciting school trip to Paris. Jordan’s journey exposes him to a new language, new foods, and a different culture, as well as new understandings of racism and classism. Craft’s signature black and white drawings (depicted as Jordan’s original artwork) show lessons learned..

 

 

 

The main characters in each of these novels are called (by their parents) to embark on a journey. While their backgrounds and personalities vary greatly, each of them finds their path in these often funny, and always fascinating stories. While kids turn the pages of these graphic novels, they will look through windows, mirrors, and sliding doors that depict our diverse world.