1. What drew you to reading and making comics?
I've always enjoyed comics. As a kid, I read things like Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes, which also inspired me to write my own. I started writing stories and making comics for my friends, and I just have never stopped.
2. Please tell us about your latest book (Swim Team).
Swim Team is about Bree, a youngster who moves from Brooklyn to the fictional town of Palmetto Shores, Florida. Palmetto Shores is obsessed with swimming, and Bree's secret is that she doesn't know how to swim. One day, Bree falls into a pool at her apartment complex and almost drowns, but she's saved by her elderly neighbor, Ms. Etta, a local swimming legend. Ms. Etta teaches Bree how to swim, and Bree winds up on her school's swim team. Throughout the book, Bree learns about teamwork and perseverance but also about the historical and systemic issues that have prevented other Black kids like her from learning how to swim.
Image from kidsbookaday.com
3. What do comics allow you to do as a storyteller?
Comics are really unique. A mass medium that combines visuals and the written word, it also doesn’t require a small army of people to execute an artistic vision. They’re a super direct form of storytelling.
Since childhood, stories came easily through the written word. They came even more naturally, however, visually, because sometimes words are imprecise, vocabulary incomplete, especially when you’re younger. Sometimes it’s easier to evoke the feeling through drawing. When it comes to telling stories, I might see it visually first or in the written word.
4. What message would you share with young creators and the teachers who share your books in classes?
Keep going! Whatever you're doing, keep going. One of the main themes in Swim Team is perseverance. I think Bree is a great example that there are few things we come by naturally. It usually takes a lot of hard work and a lot of getting it wrong before you get it right.
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