1. Please tell us about your creative process.
People think writing starts on a computer, or writing in a notebook, but for me, writing starts when I'm daydreaming, doing something kind of monotonous and boring, like walking or doing the dishes. My body is occupied but my mind can daydream, think up new stories, or ask, what if? I also tend to get great ideas right when I wake up in the morning. I like to write down stories when I can start picturing them like a movie in my head.
2. Please tell us about your collaborative process (thinking of Lowriders with Raul the Third).
When I thought up the story for Lowriders in Space and shared it with Raul, he said, this is the story I wanted to read as a kid! And right away, he sent me pictures of the characters. We met through collaborating on zines, and just by luck we had a lot of things in common, our love of comics, our sense of humor, our sense of social justice, and our work ethic (if you want to get a book done, you have to meet deadlines and actually do the work!) For many kids' books, the author and illustrator work separately, and the editor does the communicating between them. But since Raul and I submitted the book as collaborators, we've always talked about the ideas and worked as collaborators.
3. What is your message for teachers and students about the value of comics in literacy?
Adults often think that reading comics is 'cheating' somehow, and don't respect it as actually reading. But we live in an image-heavy world, and learning to read images is as crucial as reading text. Part of information literacy is also distinguishing the difference between what is written and what's in an image, and that can be a sophisticated skill. Also, for kids with ADHD, ESL students and kids on the spectrum, pictures can help focus their reading, so it's good to always include some comics on kids' reading lists, to give kids a choice to choose a book that is inviting to them.
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