Posts Tagged new graphic novels

Author Spotlight: John Claude Bemis

By on July 31, 2026   /   Articles, Author Interviews  
John Claude Bemis

In today’s author spotlight, Landra Jennings chats with John Claude Bemis about the newest book in his novel series with illustrator Nicole Miles, Rodeo Hawkins and the Sons of Disaster: A Graphic Novel, published by Holiday House and available August 11, 2026.

Book Cover: Rodeo Hawkins and the Sons of Disaster: A Graphic NovelRodeo Hawkins and her ragtag gang of interdimensional outlaws may have saved the multiverse. . . but when a vengeful enemy’s plans spell disaster for this group of unlikely heroes, who’s going to save them?

Get ready for more mayhem!

In his old life, Sidney was pursued by interdimensional assassins, had “DORK” written on his forehead (twice!), and was magically erased from the memories of his only friend, Walt. But that was before he joined legendary outlaw Rodeo Hawkins as a member of her ragtag gang, The Daughters of Mayhem. Things were starting to look up!

Unfortunately, legendary outlaws have a way of making enemies. And Rodeo Hawkins has tons scattered across the multiverse. When an old nemesis locates Walt and uses him as bait, Sidney faces a terrible choice: saving his old best friend who’s forgotten him or helping his new best friends who’ve become his only family.

This isn’t Sidney Poblocki’s first rodeo, but it might be his last in this sequel to Rodeo Hawkins and the Daughters of Mayhem!

Interview with John Claude Bemis

LJ: Congratulations on book 2! We loved speaking with you about book 1. This installment promises more dangerous and wacky exploits for Sidney Poblocki and Rodeo Hawkins and I know young readers will love it. And thank you so much for being with us today.

JCB: Thank you, I’m happy to be here.

LJ: I’m curious – how did you approach expanding the world you created in book 1 without overwhelming new readers who might be jumping in at book 2?

JCB: It’s tricky striking that balance in a sequel. You want to make sure brand new readers aren’t confused. But you don’t want fans of the first book to feel impatient with the recap. I wrote the opening of Sons of Disaster as if the reader knows (or remembers) nothing about the first book. I get the action started right away and simply weave in essential introductions into the scenes with as much excitement as possible.

Character Growth and Challenges

LJ: Without giving too much away, how are you challenging Sidney Poblocki and Rodeo Hawkins differently in this installment compared to the first?

JCB: In the first book, Sidney and Rodeo go from being strangers to buds. In the latest book, their friendship gets challenged, as friendships often do. But it makes it especially hard when Sidney’s friend is an interdimensional mischief maker. Rodeo can be A LOT sometimes—in a fun and hilarious way!

To make matters worse, Sidney’s best bud from his old life, Walt, has joined the Sons of Disaster, an army of tween boys bent on destroying Rodeo and the Daughters of Mayhem. So Sidney is torn between his loyalty to his old best friend and his new friends who are like family to him now.

LJ: Are there any characters who took unexpected turns in their journey that surprised even you during the writing process?

JCB: Rodeo continues to surprise me. She can be such a bad friend at times—and such a caring friend at other times. I’m always shocked at how complicated she can be. But that’s what’s fun working with a trickster figure like her.

The Power of Illustration

LJ: Seeing your story come to live through Nicole Miles’ illustration must have been very satisfying. Which were your favorite panels?

Sample Page from Rodeo Hawkins and the Sons of Disaster: A Graphic NovelJCB: Yes, enormously satisfying! I particularly love the panels where Nicole captures the intense emotions with the expressions of the characters. She makes their reactions to all the mayhem they’re experiencing both hilarious and heartfelt.

LJ: This series marks your first graphic novels. How do you balance leaving room for the illustrator’s interpretation while maintaining the essential parts of the narrative?

JCB: It’s a fun process. I have to write much more “cinematically”—visualizing in my head how the story might be shown, and writing a script to help Nicole visualize her own possibilities for delivering the flow of the story.

I wanted to give Nicole as much room as I could to be a co-storyteller, so that she got to make as many of her own creative choices as possible and not just conform to the vision I had in my head. And it’s been amazing to see what she creates! She’s so talented.

The Joy of Creating

LJ: You’ve published many books for kids at this point. What makes this book and this series special to you?

JCB: This series is much more comedic than the fantasy novels I’ve written in the past. I’ve always enjoyed inserting humor into exciting stories, but this is the first series where the laughs are forefront. I’ve leaned how to craft jokes and visual gags and punchlines—all while keeping the story full of magical wonder and thrilling action. There’s definitely room for more adventures ahead with this cast of wacky characters and this weird world of the Daughters of Mayhem. In fact, I’m working on the third book at the moment.

LJ: Beyond this series, what other projects excite you right now?

JCB: Teaching is such a creative outlet for me—whether leading writing workshops with kids in schools or leading writing retreats for adults in France and the Blue Ridge Mountains. I get excited helping other writers grow their skills and chase their dreams.

LJ: Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us today, John! And since no MUF interview is complete without a lightning round…

Lightning Round

cup of teaCoffee or tea?

JCB: Tea first, then coffee. I have to ease into caffeination.

Sunrise or sunset?

JCB: Sunrise—since it’s rare I see one.

Book Cover: The Hobbit, 75th anniverary editionFavorite book from childhood:

JCB: The Hobbit

If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?

JCB: Flying

If you could invite any fictional character from any universe to dinner, who would it be?

JCB: I’d have over Merry and Pippin from Lord of the Rings. It would be a raucous dinner!

About the Author and Illustrator

Book Cover: Rodeo Hawkins and the Daughters of Mayhem, A Graphic Novel

John Claude Bemis is the award-winning author of six middle-grade novels, a picture book, and the forthcoming Rodeo Hawkins graphic novel series. A former elementary school teacher, John earned his Master’s of Education in Literacy from UNC Chapel Hill and taught fourth and fifth grades for thirteen years. He received the Excellence in Teaching Award from UNC-Chapel Hill for his work as an author-presenter in schools and served as North Carolina’s Piedmont Laureate for Children’s Literature, promoting literacy and the literary arts. A popular instructor and inspiring guide to writers of all ages—kids, teens, and adults— he teaches creative writing workshops and leads retreats around the world. Beyond the creative expression of writing, John is also a sculptural mask-maker, a songwriter, and musician. He lives with his wife and daughter in Hillsborough, North Carolina.

Nicole Miles is from The Bahamas, but now lives in West Yorkshire (UK) with her pet snake and human husband. After five and a half years working at Hallmark Cards UK, she jumped into full-time freelance illustration in January of 2020, and has since worked with a variety of clients in editorial, publishing, and even animation. Her first published short comic Barbara (ShortBox) was nominated for an Eisner award. She is represented for books by Chad at The CAT Agency. For all other inquiries, she can be contacted by email at hello@nicolemillo.com

Back to Top

Interview with Artist and Graphic Novelist Rebecca Mock

By on July 29, 2026   /   Articles  

Today we shine the Mixed-Up Files spotlight on Rebecca Mock, author and illustrator of the debut middle grade graphic novel Dare You To Dance. Hailed by Publishers Weekly as an “eloquent and movement-filled portrait of ambition and self-discovery,” the book is available now from Random House Children’s Books.

MR: Congratulations on the publication of Dare You to Dance, Rebecca! I danced as a kid and was a dance mom (my daughter, Chloe, studied ballet for eighteen years), so I read your book with great interest.

RM: I’m both honored and impressed! Hopefully to you and Chloe, the ballet details rang true. Or, if they didn’t, I hope it was fun to read anyway.

Dare you to Dance: The Inspiration

MR: Can you tell readers a bit about the book? 

RM: Dare You to Dance is about a summer intensive program in NYC, where we meet Gracie, a talented ballet dancer in her tweens who’s immediately swept into the drama and pressure of serious youth ballet—and has to decide whether to concede that she just doesn’t belong or forge a path for herself! It’s about the love of art as well as many other things. I really hoped to make a fun ensemble cast of characters, all of whom have their own journeys, humor, and fun moments. I pitched the book as “over-the-top!”—I wanted to draw something super high-energy! And what better than ballet?

Friendship Versus Rivalry

MR: Your plucky protagonist, Gracie, is looking for a rival to up her dance game. Sariah, the best dancer in the program, is more interested in friendship than competition. What were you trying to say about the nature of rivalry and friendship, particularly in the dance world? The two are often intertwined.

RM: It’s not only the dance world—I was drawing from my own experiences in painting, drawing, and theater. When it came to art, I made up many rivals—often creating competitions where there were none. I could be intense, like Gracie. I was also in Sariah’s role, to a degree—too caught up in pressuring myself to notice those around me. I also, consistently, found that I respected and appreciated those I felt “competitive” toward, and regarded them as comrades.

I think that mentality was influenced by the action/adventure cartoons and comics I loved. I had an active imagination. What I like about both Gracie and Sariah is though they’re very different, they share that quality of creating pressure and competition where there doesn’t need to be any, perhaps stemming from vivid imaginations. And instead of learning to let that go, they egg each other on and create games to motivate each other. And that works for them, that’s how their friendship works, and hopefully that’s a bit funny, and maybe you can think of a friend who you act the same way with.

Rebecca’s Dance Training

MR: I read that you studied dance as a child. What was your training like? Did you attend an intensive ballet workshop like the one you described in Dare You to Dance?

RM: I took ballet classes from about age three to eleven. I wasn’t dancing seriously—just one or two classes per week. I know young dancers at that age might take three or more classes per week! And truthfully, ballet wasn’t my strength—I was constantly struggling with posture and form! But I kept taking classes for one very important reason: One of my best friends took classes with me. We had so much fun together.

I also took tap and modern classes (I switched to modern and kept taking classes until thirteen, when I stopped dance classes altogether). I truly love to dance, still. Art as a form of expression is something most young people are drawn to, and love, naturally. But sometimes the classroom space can be oppressive, and friends are the main reason you keep coming back.

Dance and Body Image

MR: It’s no secret that dancers’ bodies are often scrutinized, with undue emphasis placed on the desire or necessity to be thin. From your experience and the research you did for the book, have any strides been made in the dance world to accept a range of body types? If not, do you expect the tide to change anytime soon?

RM: Since I haven’t been part of the dance world as a teen or adult, I skipped a lot of this scrutiny and pressure. I can’t speak from the point of view of someone who’s honestly dealt with that, but I can remember friends who had to deal with this scrutiny, and I tried to pay homage to their challenges. I had a friend in school like Sariah who was taller and bigger than most of the other dancers in her class, and admitted that it alienated her and made her feel othered. I remember being shocked. To me she seemed to be such a dancer, so elegant and graceful. How could she not fit in the ballet space?

In my research, I took careful note of how dancers talked about body image, and although I’m only seeing a small sliver of the dance world in videos and interviews, I’m seeing bits of both that old-fashioned body scrutiny and a more revolutionary re-imagining of ballet ideals. When you delve into the foundations and history of ballet which stretches back 500 years, our modern stereotypes about body types, gender roles, and appearances are all trends that emerged fairly recently. Ballet has evolved in many directions over the centuries, and I expect it will continue to do so.

Researching Ballet

MR: Speaking of research, what kind of research did you do for the book? There are a ton of ballet terms to know and positions to draw. It couldn’t have been easy.

RM: I did so much research! I read a few books about ballet, including a ballet textbook and the fantastic nonfiction book Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet. I followed dozens of ballet influencers and watched their vlogs, read their posts, used their dance videos as reference for practice drawings. I tried to seek out online ballet tutorials which explained each step of a sequence so that I could write down, and then double-check, each move. I even had a ballet consultant triple-check the book to be sure that even the side-talk and teachers’ attitudes were believable and added to the realism.

But underneath it all, I was remembering how it felt to be in ballet class. The sound of the teacher counting five-six-seven-eight, the chatter of students waiting for their turn at the floor sequence . . . One thing I avoided doing was watching any ballet movies or TV shows for the duration of working on this book. I didn’t want to accidentally transcribe any well-worn movie cliches into the story.

Portrait of an Artist

MR: Switching gears, you are widely known for your work as an illustrator, cartoonist, and book-cover artist. You also collaborated with Hope Larson on the hugely popular middle-grade graphic novels Compass South, Knife’s Edge, and Salt Magic. What prompted your decision to create a graphic novel on your own? Did it feel weird not having a collaborator?

RM: While this book isn’t my first solo story project, it’s definitely the longest! It’s my first time handling a story of this scale in every aspect, which was daunting and exciting in equal measure. Working with Hope taught me so much about comics, and her beautiful scripts always gave me so much room to play.

Once Salt Magic was done, I felt that I was ready to try writing my own long-form graphic novel. I pondered over what kind of story I’d have the most fun both writing and drawing, that would reflect my own sensibilities, which lean toward action, heightened emotion, and slapstick. What I learned in the process, was that I LOVE rewriting things on the fly. As much as the final book stayed more or less true to the initial outline, I altered and refined things at each stage, even adding scenes at the inking stage. Each change made the story truer to its core messages: that friendship transcends competition and that art doesn’t need to be “serious” to be good.

Writing and Illustrating Process

MR: What is your creative process for writing and illustrating a graphic novel? Do you write the text first and add the illustrations or vice-versa? Also, how does being an artist influence your writing?

RM: Having finished Dare You and another book since, I’ve refined and honed my process a lot. When I started Dare You, I only had experience planning out stories fifty pages or less, and that process involved almost no scripting. Now it goes back and forth. I first write an outline, and I refine that until it’s quite detailed, even including much of the dialogue. I break that outline into pages, to get a rough idea of how the book is paced. Then I draw thumbnails of each page, really small. I scan and expand those tiny drawings to be a bit larger, and drop in as much of the placeholder dialogue as I can—and I’ll rewrite a lot of the outline based on new ideas that the thumbnails inspired. These thumbnails-with-text are the first draft of the final script.

From there…

I draw more refined thumbnails and make further changes as I realize my first visual ideas could be better. And the dialogue gets a lot of edits too. Now, this is the final “script.” From here, final sketches and inks and colors can go smoothly, although I’ll still change and refine small things as I get closer to finishing. Sometimes I realize I need to completely redraw the first five pages, because drawing the final scenes gave me a better idea of how to open the story. Sometimes it’s making sure a character is consistently wearing socks. Being an artist allows me to “draw” my script instead of having to describe it. I still like working from other writer’s scripts, but there is a lot of fun to be had in diving into the story at the thumbnail stage and letting each new page feel like venturing into the unknown.

#Goals

MR: Do you have a specific routine or word-count goals? Any rituals? 

RM: I don’t have word count goals as much as page count goals. When I’m doing those tiny little thumbnail drawings, I’ll set a daily goal, maybe four pages or maybe ten. It’s important to find the balance of staying consistent without pushing yourself so that you don’t burn out mentally. I want to feel like I’m not quite finished with a thought when I stop “writing” for the day, so that the next day I’m excited to finish it.

MR: What projects are you working on now, Rebecca?

RM: I’m wrapping up a short comic for a DC anthology of spooky Halloween stories, called Quoth the Raven . . . Whatever. After that I’ll be hopefully working on final sketches/inks of a new book, as well as teaching my storytelling class at FIT’s Illustration master’s program.

Lightning Round!

Yellow graphic lightning bolt

MR: Last thing: No MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so . . .

Preferred writing snack? If I’m in a bind, if I need to really focus or just get out of a slump, my secret weapon is gummy candy. It’s an unhealthy secret weapon ONLY to be used in emergencies!

Coffee or tea? Coffee if I need to draw really complex things! Tea if I want to have a nice, steady day.

Zombie apocalypse: Yea or nay? Nay. I like my brains where they are.

Favorite dance style? I love watching swing dancing and tap dancing!

Favorite dance company? American Ballet Theatre—I used their studios as reference for a lot of details in the book!

Superpower? I love superheroes with electric powers. It would be cool to turn on my TV with a zap.

Favorite place on earth? My parents’ house, sitting by the window, looking out at the trees during a rainstorm.

MR: Thank you for chatting with me, Rebecca—and congratulations on the publication of Dare You to Dance. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I know MUF readers will, too.

{For more books about dance, check out this list from the Mixed-Up Files archives}

Bio

REBECCA MOCK REBECCA MOCK (they/she) is a New York Times bestselling and Eisner award-winning illustrator and comic artist. They are the author and illustrator of the graphic novel Dare You to Dance. They’ve also illustrated the graphic novels Compass South, Knife’s Edge, and Salt Magic, written by Hope Larson, and their artwork can be found in newspapers, cartoons, books, commercials, and video games. Rebecca lives in Brooklyn, New York.

 

 

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, selected jokes for Reader’s Digest, and received certification as a life coach from NYU. 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.

Back to Top

Author-Illustrator Spotlight: Jessixa Bagley

By on July 14, 2025   /   Author Interviews  

In today’s Author Spotlight, Landra Jennings chats with author-illustrator Jessixa Bagley about her new middle-grade graphic novel, Jazzy the Witch in Broom Doom (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, July 15). She’ll share her inspiration behind writing it, her creative process and a few hints about the next Jazzy book!

Book Summary:

“Whimsy abounds in this playful” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) middle grade graphic novel about a young witch who struggles to fit in—perfect for fans of The Okay Witch and Hooky!

In her town full of witches, Jazzy’s always been a little bit different. She’s not excited about magic. She forgets the steps to spells. And even though her parents run the town’s broom shop, she doesn’t want to fly.

Then, one day, she discovers what she was born to do: cycling! Now she just has to find a way to get a bicycle…and learn how to ride it. But will her new passion come between her and her best friend—and possibly get her in big trouble?

Interview with Jessixa Bagley

LJ: Welcome to the Mixed-Up Files, Jessixa! Thanks for joining us today.

JB: Thank you so much for having me.

LJ:  First off, I want to tell you how much I enjoyed this novel. Your characters’ expressions—those nuances—really take us into the heads of the characters and into the story. There are so many laughs and so much heart. Can you tell us about your inspiration for writing this book?

JB: It’s a funny thing how the idea came about. I had a dream, and when I woke up in the morning, I drew a picture of a little witch that looked kind-of like me as a kid. It made me think of a lemonade stand or Lucy’s advice booth in Peanuts, but the kid in my dream was selling bicycle seats for broomsticks to witches. I posted it on Instagram and the feedback was: This needs to be a book!

Around that time, my son was learning how to ride a bike and I was reflecting on how I had a really hard time learning how to ride a bike myself. As I began developing my little witch character, I found myself putting more of “me” into her. I also added some snark and sass because I love characters with some texture. So, my inspiration was a mix of the unconscious, my childhood, and some bits from real life.

Developing Ideas

LJ: I’m always curious about how author-illustrators work. How do you develop your ideas?

JB: My process has changed over the years. Before I was published, I was looking everywhere for a story, trying really hard. I didn’t feel the ideas were coming to me very easily; the stories didn’t feel interesting or personal and I didn’t have much of a connection.

These days, as I’ve tuned more into my own experiences and my childhood, I might be inspired by something in a dream, I might get ideas while I’m meditating, or something in the world might catch my eye. I try to capture these moments. During school visits, I show the students the place in my sketchbook where I do just that—I jot down words or phrases or an animal that I like, because there’s something inside of those that was inspiring.

Writing and Illustrating

LJ: What’s your creative process like? Does the writing come first, or the pictures?

JB: These things are usually happening simultaneously. I jot down some ideas and then I’ll sketch a little and go back and forth.

For illustrations for Jazzy, I had my stylistic approach from that initial sketch. I was also inspired by Adrienne Adams’ The Woggle of Witches, which has a beautiful and moody quality to the artwork, and Norman Bridwell’s The Witch Next Door series, with those minimal illustrations and simple colors. I wasn’t intentionally creating something retro or vintage, but I was picking up on the things that I liked.

As far as the writing, my process is that after I get the initial concept, I outline the novel, considering total word count and what I plan to happen. Then I’ll reverse-engineer, writing the whole manuscript before I start sketching. My years of creating picture books (those page-turn moments!) and making comics really informs my work. For this project, I was focused on dialogue, because graphic novels are all dialogue.

Overall, making graphic novels is fun because there’s that sense of the unexpected that comes through during the process. I just try to go with the flow and stay loose and let things happen.

Creative Tools

LJ: What’s your medium? Do illustrators still use pen and paper or is everything software-driven now?

JB: I used to be much more of a traditionalist. Thumbnail, then pencil, ink, color. That’s how I did my comics. For most of my picture books there was very minimal involvement of digital tools. I created everything by hand and with watercolor. I loved doing that.

But making picture books the traditional way creates so much pressure because if you don’t get it right, you’re starting over. And an entire graphic novel done in traditional fashion can also take a real physical toll.

The newer tools allow for moving things around, changing things. They make the process easier and more fun. I’m trying to be freer with how I make art. For me, that’s allowing for the opportunity to work smarter. I enjoyed using Photoshop for iPad for this project, my first attempt to do an entire book digitally.

Character Expressions

JB: You mentioned the facial expressions that you loved. I created this postcard, as part of my pre-order goodies, reflecting Jazzy’s different moods.

LJ: Thank you so much for sharing the postcard! It really nails Jazzy’s feelings. For those interested in obtaining a copy, Books of Wonder may still have some of the pre-order goodies available with purchase.

Deep relationships

LJ: I love how you handled relationships, with Jazzy and her family, with her best friend Aggie, with her mentor Madame Melcha (even the bickering familiars got a relationship arc!). How did you balance all those threads?

JB: Collaborating on graphic novels for upper elementary with my husband Aaron had me thinking on character arcs for that slightly older reader. So, I was used to keeping an eye on what was happening with the different characters, building that muscle memory, like, “When’s the last time we saw Aggie or Madame Melcha?” And making sure that the characters all evolved a little bit differently.

One of the relationships I loved the most was that minimal arc that Aggie’s familiar, Cassie has with Jazzy’s familiar, Fiona. Cassie hates Fiona. Fiona likes to needle her. I enjoyed having a moment where they come together. So even though this novel is for a middle grade audience that’s a bit younger than the books I did with Aaron and the relationship arcs are simpler and more straightforward, I still wanted to make sure that they were there.

Favorite Scene(s)

LJ: There were so many scenes that were hilarious with a lot of fun details. There were also others like the “I found it” scene (where Jazzy stares into the television) that were simpler, but impactful. What was your favorite scene to create?

JB: There’s three that come to mind. I really love the conversation that Granny Titch has with Jazzy where she’s telling the family history over the course of a few pages. It was an opportunity for me to go outside the panels and do more of a flowy composition. I also liked being able to tuck in bits about the history of witches.

A similar moment occurs with Madame Melcha where she’s telling Jazzy about her past. Witches have a complicated history and I really liked the opportunity to acknowledge some of the things we know about witches and witchcraft, like, for instance, that relationship to nature and to the harvest, while also keeping the story sweet and joyful and age-appropriate

My other favorite scene is when Jazzy and Aggie go to the junkyard and they make the bike. We see Aggie coming prepared. She has her spell and Spellopedia and she’s very confident. But Jazzy has to bring her own magic to it too. And she’s a little unsure, but she makes it work because she really wants this and she really loves this. I loved that element—that when we really want something, we can bring a lot more of ourselves to it and we can actually make it happen.

On Learning How to Ride a Bike

LJ: There are actually quite a few panels about riding a bike after that scene. What was your thinking there?

JB: I mentioned that I was a very late learner to riding a bike and I fell a lot. I was very much like: Why can’t I just do this thing? Well, it takes practice. You have to form this energy force effectively between yourself and this object. You have to find your balance.

So, after Jazzy created a bike for herself, I found a really fun opportunity to have all that in there. What are the things you need to think about when riding a bike? Because maybe some of the kids who are going to read this novel don’t know how to ride a bike yet. I wanted that little tutorial and also the message: You’re going to fall and that’s part of it. It’s okay.

To the heart of Jazzy

LJ: The theme of being your own person is meaningful for so many. Can you share with us what drew you to that theme?

JB: If I were to have had a theme in mind from the beginning, I don’t think the book would’ve worked. I didn’t want to make a self-help book for kids or beat anyone over the head with theme. I wanted to create this as much from a “kid feeling” as I possibly could. So, I really just set out to create this little book about this witch and her world.

It was only when it was done that I realized this book actually speaks to larger themes that could apply to kids in so many different ways: You don’t have to be what others expect you to be. Jazzy perceives that she’s supposed to be a certain kind of witch. And her family just assumes she’ll be into witchcraft because it’s their whole world. These sorts of expectations come in so many forms in real life for kids, be it academic, athletic, religious, cultural, or community. And that can be very hard when you don’t feel those things are your identity.

What I absolutely love about making books, about making art in general, is that people will look at it and reflect and bring their own feelings to it. I don’t get to decide what this book means to somebody, the same way I don’t get to decide what a painting means.

On Creating

LJ: Anything else you want to share?

JB: I hope I’ve set a tone for Jazzy’s world. That it can feel real in people’s minds and these characters feel big and rich. Making graphic novels is not for the faint of heart, for sure. But I have loved every second of this, even the hard parts, because it was just so much fun. I would encourage anybody that has an interest in it to give it a try. I know that it can be daunting. But kids love graphic novels so much. I feel like I’m trying to make up for all the books that I didn’t get to have when I was a kid.

More Jazzy

LJ: What will the next Jazzy book be like?

JB: I have so many more of those big, full-page moments that really add emotional heft to the book. This next book is even more expressive, even more yelling, more faces.

LJ: I already know we’ll love it!

Lightning Round

No MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so. . . .

Coffee or tea?

I drink tea, but I like the idea of coffee way better. Like, I love the ritual and the idea. My body just doesn’t love coffee as much.

Sunrise or sunset?

Oh, that’s really hard. I’ll say sunsets. But what I have learned in living in a place where I get to see the sunrise, is that it does give you a sense of hope.

Favorite city besides the one you live in?

I have two. I’m a bit of a Francophile. I love Paris. And I do really love New York. My dad was from there.

Favorite childhood television show?

Pee Wee’s Playhouse. I’m staring at things from the show right now!

Favorite ice cream.

I like inclusions. So, I’ll say Mint chocolate chip.

If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?

Teleportation, hands down.

Favorite book from childhood?

Beatrix Potter books. I was really steeped in those when I was a kid. And that definitely led me as an adult to making books that featured animals. They were “delicate,” those books, with whimsy before I knew what whimsy was.

LJ: How can readers obtain a copy of the book?

JB: The book can be ordered at your local independent bookstores, Books of Wonder, Bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon, or any place books are sold.

About the Author 

Jessixa Bagley is a children’s book author-illustrator with a background in fine art and comics. She has had work featured in publications such as New American Paintings, Highlights Magazine, The Stranger, and Illustoria Magazine. She’s also the author of the middle grade graphic novels Duel and Dear Jackie (illustrated by Aaron Bagley) and the author-illustrator of the middle grade graphic novel series Jazzy the Witch. Jessixa is a two-time Washington State Book Award recipient; first in 2016 for her debut picture book, Boats for Papa, and again in 2024 for her graphic novel, Duel. Jessixa also received a 2018 Ezra Jack Keats Honor Award for picture book Laundry Day. Many of her books are Junior Library Guild Selections. In her work, she’s drawn to animals and emotional themes often inspired by her own experiences. Jessixa also teaches and speaks about writing and illustration. She often illustrates for other writers and artistically collaborates with her husband, Aaron Bagley. Jessixa lives in Seattle with her husband and son.

Back to Top