Transcript

Charity 0:01 This is Charity and Jen of Planet Book brought to you by the Springfield-Greene County Library District. On each episode we discuss our favorite YA and middle grade books and anything else having to do with reading. Got a book or topic you'd like to hear us talk about, email us at imagine@thelibrary.org. Thanks for joining us.

Jen 0:18 Hello. Today we have with us debut author Rachel Elliot. She attended undergrad in Missouri and grew up not too far from here in a rural Oklahoma town. Her debut graphic novel, The Real Riley Mayes will be available for purchase May 3, and will also be on our shelves at SGCL. So Rachel, would you give us an idea of what we've got to look forward to?

Rachel Elliott 0:43 Hi, so great to be here. So thanks for letting me be here and talk to everybody. The Real Riley Mayes is a graphic novel, and Riley is a fifth grade girl who lives in a fictional county in northeastern Oklahoma called Kenutchee County. No one really gets her. She draws all over her homework, her jokes fall to like awkward silence. She gets sent to the principal's office for ridiculous things. And her mom describes friendship as a trapeze act. If you can visualize that, that you swing out there, you kind of swing yourself out there, and sometimes nobody catches you. You kind of hope eventually, someone will get you. Meanwhile, Riley's favorite part of the day is watching the Joy Powers' Comedy Hour on something like YouTube. And so when her teacher has her class write letters or some sort of fan message, it's a writing project assignment. She definitely wants to write to Joy Powers, but Riley's pretty bad at words. And every time she tries writing a letter, it's a comedic disaster. Like not really the vibe that she was looking for, because she keeps using the wrong words. Eventually, she realizes that what she's feeling is a crush on this female TV comedian. And so all these things kind of smushed together in a combination of her, of Riley, needing to find the right words to send to Joy Powers, reaching out to friends to try and get help with this message, and also worrying that her actual crush is going to mess up whatever new friendship she's going through.

Jen 2:31 Why did you select middle school? Because she's a fifth grader and it seems like that's a really pivotal point in a lot of people's lives. Why did you select middle school as the setting?

Rachel Elliott 2:48 That's a really good question. I know for myself, if I'm trying to think of the time, there's a weird thing that happens when you're writing with kids where you can't help but think back to your own childhood, even though you know that childhood itself is different with every generation of people. So in my experience, there's this weird moment where suddenly all the girls are doing like there's this gender thing going on. At least back when I was a kid, all the girls are hanging out over here and all the guys-and like up through elementary school that's not going on until like, right around fifth and sixth grade. And then it's like everybody goes boom. Suddenly that, you know, funny guy that you were doing jump rope with is like, no, don't come over here.

Jen 3:30 Yeah, I noticed that in your pictures that you know, Riley can sit with the girls and listen to them talk about crushes on boy bands. And she wants to play football with the guys but like, not in the way they're really wanting to play football now. So yeah. It reminded me when I was reading that, it reminded me of that quote, when you fit in nowhere, you fit in everywhere. And that's kind of what I was thinking about as I read.

Rachel Elliott 3:59 Oh, that's cool.

Jen 4:00 Like, even if initially you feel like you don't fit in anywhere, at least you can bounce back and forth. And it kind of-it's something you get to explore that the people that do kind of gravitate toward one group or not they don't have as many opportunities to explore that.

Rachel Elliott 4:14 So yeah, that's a cool, positive way to look at that situation. For sure. And she does end up through the book end up in lots of different settings, including the big girls night party. Yeah, and lots of lots of other places. And she does, in some ways you could imagine as being the best of both worlds because it's all worlds, right? Yeah.

Charity 4:42 How much of yourself Rachel is in this story? You know, like are there some elements that you threw in that you actually experienced or how much of yourself is in here?

Rachel Elliott 4:55 Oh, a little bit. There's some things that are like myself. I would say that Riley is a lot like myself in it, where she grew up is much like where I grew up. It's in a rural part of Oklahoma. She walks to school with her older brother, there's signs around that say, hay for sale. There's like a place that gives art lessons that's in an old barn. Which isn't literally like but I did take some of my first drawing lessons on the farm that was next door to my parents house and we crawled under the barbed wire fence. And so there's those things are the same. I think like, Riley is much more sure of herself than I was, I don't think I had any clue that I would have that, that like my admiration for different actresses or comedians or, like had anything to do with a crush, like that was not even on my radar. And I think she's also, to be honest, probably, I think she is much more talkative than I was, like, much more out there than I was when I was in middle school.

Charity 5:59 Some of the other authors we've interviewed have talked about, trying to write stories that they wish they had seen, or had a chance to read when they were young. What would you say about that in this story? Llike, was that on your radar as you were creating it?

Rachel Elliott 6:18 That's a really good question. And it's a hard question for me because, again, like, it's hard to-whenever I send myself back to that age, it's always in like, the late 80s, or something, you know, and it's hard to pull that apart from it. And when I was a kid in fifth grade, I was reading Marvel Comics, Encyclopedia Brown, or something like that. Like I would read Encyclopedia Brown, then I'd be like, I'm gonna read Sherlock Holmes. And then I was like, this is hard. And like anything, any contemporary middle grade, like I felt like I didn't get those characters. I just wasn't into it. And any books that were about crushes, I definitely didn't get it all. So and a few years later, all my friends were reading Sweet Valley High.

Charity 7:06 Yes.

Rachel Elliott 7:07 I was just like, oh my god, I can't even bring myself to read.

Jen 7:09 Rachel, I was reading Sweet Valley High in fourth grade, because I loved it so much, because the Sweet Valley Twins weren't doing it for me anymore. But so I very much remember Sweet Valley High. And that's similar to what we've talked to with the other authors. When we were-because I won't out our ages or anything, but we all grew up at a time when pretty much this genre didn't exist. And so I felt like sometimes the parents of the middle schoolers are trying to police something not living like-I've had a middle schooler. That is the time now, not necessarily when we were in middle school, but at least for my son's peers that's kind of when they all start coming out, or at least start being really open and confused. And just that whole mess of identity in general, not just who you have a crush on. But, but that is-you see the kids in the hallways. And so every student deserves to have their story told.

Charity 8:25 Yeah, everyone deserves to see themselves in stories. And I feel like I've slowly come to the comic graphic novel bandwagon. And so I love the representation that's here. And that you've kind of, you know, have some big themes in your book. And I wonder, since you're a debut author, have you thought about-I don't know, like, I feel like so many books are being challenged right now and banned. Have you thought about maybe your response, if that happens with your book? Or how would you respond to those folks?

Rachel Elliott 9:05 Oh, that's, gosh, you guys have such great questions. I've actually been-it's such a good-it's been on my mind so much that I've actually been seeing other folks' responses and like bookmarking them. I think it's Kathy G Johnson, the author of The Breakaways. It's a graphic novel about a, like an ensemble cast graphic novel about a soccer team. And she had a great response for that was just very straightforward and referring to Texas, specifically, the saying, like I support all Texas kids, I support all Texas LGBTQ kids. Of course, my response would definitely include, you know, I support all the LGBTQ kids and kids everywhere. I think that with that issue in general with these challenges, I feel like it's trying to set up an attitude of intimidation around the books themselves, and maybe it doesn't matter if the challenge actually goes through. The fact that there are challenges sometimes makes particular people or particular readers feel kind of weird, maybe if they're picking up the book, you know what I mean? Like, even if the challenge doesn't happen, and that might change how a reader or their family feels about it. So I think maybe sometimes calling it out as intimidation, which is what I think it is.

Jen 10:31 Exactly where we're public librarians and so I feel like we have the American Library Association. They have our back. And so public libraries, in general, if they're going by the rules of the ALA aren't banning books. You know, we've got something to offend everyone.

Charity 10:57 Yeah, I like to say there are books for everyone. Not every book is for every person. But there are books for everyone out there. And I feel like that's important. I also feel like I want to hear what you would say to those people. And I hear parents and teachers say that comics are not real books. I know a kid whose teacher told him they were reading through all the Mark Twain's which is the Missouri's Readers Choice Award for middle school. And I think the last couple of years have had some graphic novels on there. And I remember the student telling me that their teacher was so upset that they're, you know, and I think, one won the Newbery, I can't remember the title. It's escaping me-

Jen 11:42 I think it was, is it the New Kid by Jerry-

Charity 11:46 Yeah, I think it was New Kid.

Rachel Elliott 11:47 New Kid is awesome.

Charity 11:48 And so their teacher was so upset that these comics are winning awards. And, you know, and so I talked to this kid, and I said, you know what, read those books, if you-but what do you say to those folks, Rachel?

Rachel Elliott 12:04 I think it's probably time to give that up. The publishers are picking up lots of graphic novels. I'm super happy that they're picking up graphic novels because to be honest, I was trying to do picture books and like my sense of humor is like, not quite four and five year old. And I think in pictures, like I learned to-the first books I remember reading are those like, paperback, Peanuts Snoopy books at the grocery store. Like, I think reading comics was like how I learned to read. And anytime I felt uncomfortable with reading stuff, I was like, I'm just gonna go get comics and read comics. And I don't think it's, it's definitely not like any kind of lesser literacy. It's just you're reading in a different way. And I fell in love with that kind of reading. Like, and you mentioned new kid, and there's so many awesome things in New Kid like the little angels that appear sometimes that just kind of make a soundtrack. There's just all these cool things you can do with it. And they're just as good as regular books and I should say they are regular books. Yeah, I wonder if maybe those folks just haven't found the graphic novels that they like. You know, how you talked about, there's a book for every kid, I think maybe there's a graphic novel for every reader, and they just haven't-they'll find a graphic novel that they actually like sometime, and they'll read it.

Jen 13:30 And we have to read books about really tough topics and I was thinking about how much more I enjoy the graphic novels I've read that have dealt with some of the trickier issues. And for me, I think it's because it allows a silence by absorbing all those pictures. You don't have to hear like-because a lot of these books read for an adult person as whiny, like, because you're inner dialoguing everything. Whereas when you're looking at a picture, it's saying those exact same things, but like, silently, you know?

Rachel Ellliott 14:02 Oh, yeah, it's really interesting that you bring that up because in the book in the real Riley Mayes I set aside like a chapter that's completely wordless. And there were times when I was going back and forth with my editor about the book and the original versions of it did not have text boxes. So when you read, you know, comics, those of you all listening, like if you imagine a comic page, and you know, sometimes it'll be a little text box that says, you know, meanwhile, at the Batcave in Marvel Comics and things like that, superhero comics, meanwhile, at the Batcave, but a lot of times in recent middle grade and why comics. The text boxes are narration like first person narration. And originally we did not have any first person narration in there and the editor said, I think you need some. And it was a little tricky for me to do that because, like Jen was saying, this idea of narrating yourself. So at first it was like too noisy, when I put that in there, and then we took some out. And then there's a whole chapter that has no narration, where Riley sneaks into the library. And there's words in it because she's looking at a computer screen, and she's looking up some things about Joy Powers, that comedian she has a crush on and there's words but you just kind of get to watch her do stuff, you know, and it's very quiet. And I totally get what you mean there. And sometimes you need those quiet spaces to just people watch.

Jen 15:36 Well, in that specific chapter, it hit me who your style kind of reminds me of, and I mean, this as the most sincere compliment, because it was one of my favorite children's book authors but James Marshall of Georgia and Martha fame. It's the coloring, I think, but also the very adult humor that you can find, you know, kind of the Georgia and Martha humor like that the kids didn't get when they were reading it. But like, if you go back to your favorite book and read it, you're like, oh my gosh, that's so funny.

Rachel Elliott 16:11 Sort of the Muppets level of stuff, like, this is funny when you are in fifth grade and then when you go back and you find it when you're 19 you're like, that was in that book?

Charity 16:25 Rachel, how did this book come to be? And as a debut author, can you kind of explain what that process is like?

Jen 16:35 Especially since you're writing and drawing, and so that's probably what our listeners are going to be interested in. And like, not only do you have to sell yourself as a writer, but also as an artist. Was that tougher do you think or is that easier?

Rachel Elliott 16:46 Well, first of all, when the book came about, I was working on picture books and kind of making a portfolio for illustration for maybe picture books or interiors with somebody else's book. And I didn't think that I would try and make my own book. I wanted to just get some work, illustrating other folks' books. And this is gonna be a weird side story. But in that process, I made a comic about a fantasy I had when I was a kid about saving Carol Burnett from rerun island.

Charity 17:25 Our young listeners, Google Carol Burnett. You have no idea who that is but Google, YouTube her. She's hilarious. Okay.

Rachel Elliott 17:33 Apparently, at some point when I was young, I think my mom told me that she was in reruns. And I thought, does this mean she's locked up somewhere? And then I had this fantasy that I like parachute out of the helicopter and saved her from a monster who had chained her up inside a cave. So I drew all this into a comic when I was like, 30 something and then I thought, well, what the heck, I'll just mail it to her. Because what do you do when you have a crush on a huge celebrity is about-not a crush anymore but when you draw a comic about a childhood crush on a huge celebrity, and about them being chained up in a cave, you mail it to them. That sounds totally creepy now that I'm saying it out loud.

Charity 18:16 I think that sounds great, Rachel.

Jen 18:18 I do too.

Charity 18:20 Will you please make that book?

Rachel Elliott 18:23 That was pretty much how this ended up happening because I sent the comic to Carol Burnett and days of anxiety later when I realized what the heck did I do, you know? This is like some Presidential Medal of Freedom Award winner and I'm sending her this awkwardly drawn thing of a kid saving her from a cave monster. I got a box. She sent a box to me with DVDs of her show in it.

Charity 18:48 Oh my God. That is a great story. And now you're the best of friends, yes?

Rachel Elliott 18:55 She's a person who's very generous with her fan mail I think.

Jen 18:59 Oh, that is so cute. Because we've kind of like just tripped upon several author kind of geeking out moments. And that definitely is like, I think that tops it. That may even top that Comic Con.

Charity 19:16 Yes. Oh my goodness. That's awesome. So basically what you're saying is this is Carol Burnett approved.

Rachel Elliott 19:21 Oh I don't know about that.

Charity 19:23 So for all the Boomers and Gen Xers out there who are like, ugh, comics this is Carol Burnett approved. I

Rachel Elliott 19:34 Oh, well I did later find out weird a thing like when she was a kid she thought she would become a cartoonist.

Charity 19:38 Oh, wow.

Rachel Elliott 19:39 She was really into-even there's like a photo somewhere back when her show was on the air like during the 70s. Someone had interviewed her and asked her to dump out the stuff in her purse. And there was like a paperback thing of Jules Feiffer cartoons.

Charity 19:53 Oh my goodness.

Rachel Elliott 19:56 She would like take cartoons and comics to the rehearsals.

Charity 20:02 That is awesome. What an awesome story.

Jen 20:03 I love it.

Charity 20:04 I do too.

Rachel Elliott 20:06 I don't know if that answers your question.

Charity 20:08 So you're an illustrator do you nerd out over like all of the illustrator stuff, like the pencils and the paper?

Rachel Elliott 20:18 I have not adapted to digital drawing. A lot of folks who are working on comics and illustrations right now, there's quite a few folks who draw digitally. There's quite a few folks who draw with what we call now traditional materials, which is pens and paper and things like that. I mostly draw in markers and add watercolor or colored pencil or something like that. And then if I need to clean things up, I'll scan it and use Photoshop to fix things. But yeah, I have to be able to touch things and get to move around. And yeah, I love it.

Charity 20:57 As someone who is obsessed with like paper and pens and markers myself, what is your favorite brand when you're drawing and illustrating? Like what are your favorite tools?

Rachel Elliott 21:10 I've been into these brush markers that you can, there's all kinds of different brands of brush markers you can get from JetPens that are made in Japan. And there's one that I just started using that's-it's made by Zig Z I G. And I think it's called Mangaka. It's a brush pen that's specifically for like manga art, but also there's lots of different brush pens that you can get that are also meant for writing. You can get them in different tips and things like that. And, you get a nice little variation of lines. Like you can make little tiny lines and then the same line can get real big at the end. They dry pretty fast and you can color on top of them.

Charity 21:52 Cool.

Rachel Elliott 21:53 Yeah.

Charity 21:54 Well, we're coming down to our final questions. I'm curious, as an illustrator, who do you love? Whose work is out there that you love like your favorite illustrators? Comic book authors, illustrators?

Rachel Elliott 22:13 Gosh, lots of stuff. Sometimes my brain blows up and I think of stuff in the past.

Jen 22:15 Or you can just tell us what's one of the most recent things you've fallen in love with?

Rachel Elliott 22:18 There's all kinds of things. So as far as art, I wanted to tie back and say that I do love James Marshall. And so as far as stuff from when we were kids his stuff is always hilarious. And things that are out right now, well, the most recent book that I had been reading was the Legend of Auntie Po by Shing Yin Khor. And I also have been reading this oh, I've been reading these two books with cats. One is Junji Ito's Cat Diary. And he's a-

Jen 22:53 I just bought that.

Rachel Elliott 22:54 He's a horror manga artist. I wouldn't be like, ooh, this is my favorite art because it's like a horror style of drawing. And yet there's nothing creepy in the book at all. So if your listeners are like, oh I don't know about this, it's called Yon & Mu, y o n and mu. It looks creepy, but the creepiness is what's funny about it because it's like a true life memoir of him and his girlfriend moving in together, and he's introduced to her cat, and then they adopt a new cat and he is totally creeped out by the cat. And so they're drawn in a very creepy way. Sometimes it's not the art itself. It's like the smartness in which the person uses their style, you know?

Jen 23:37 Oh, yeah.

Rachel Elliott 23:38 To tell a story in a totally different way. I could imagine somebody pitching like it's gonna be a story about me building a relationship with my cats. And it's drawn in a horror style.

Charity 23:54 I think that sounds hilarious.

Rachel Elliott 23:55 It is hilarious.

Jen 23:56 Well, and if you find pictures of him, like he is an adult graphic novel, horror genre guy. Like his stuff is body horror at its best. So for the mature listeners, that is something you'll probably gravitate toward, if you like horror. But some of the most funny memes you can find are comparing him to, is it Miyazaki, the studio Ghibli guy?

Rachel Elliott 24:23 Yeah, Miyazaki.

Jen 24:26 Yeah, that's it, Miyazaki. And so Miyazaki has these cute little characters, but in his real life is pretty dark. Like he's pretty realistic and nihilistic thinking, but he has these adorable characters. Whereas Ito is like, horrible characters, but like when you see pictures of him he's wearing little cat ears and like dancing to the Beatles, and so it's funny. Artists, you guys, you guys always surprise me. That's all I can say. But I did want to point out, if you're interested in finding out more about Rachel, I did check out her site. It's Rachel Elliott. And that's two L's two T's, dot me, me. So RachelElliott.me. and go to the portfolio section. And you can find very cute pictures of cats and goats and other creatures. And also in the color section, I feel like that's where I really saw the George and Martha. That's where that's what I was able to like, put it together. But definitely check out her site. Where else can they follow you, Rachel?

Rachel Elliott 25:30 I'm also on Twitter. My handle is @okie, o k i e, underscore Elliott, E L L I O T T, since I'm from Oklahoma, and that's what I'm under on Twitter. I'm on Instagram, too. And there's also a Twitter hashtag and account for everyone whose books are coming out in 2022. It's called 22debuts.com, 22 d e b u t s. And so if you're ever curious about any other authors who have books coming out in 2022 they love talking back and forth with librarians, the students, kids, teachers, anybody. They'd be keen to talk to you.

Charity 26:17 Awesome. Rachel, what's up next for you?

Rachel Elliott 26:21 Gosh, right now I'm kicking around a few different stories. I draw conversations between characters in a book. And I don't know what exactly I'll be doing. But a lot of times I start out by drawing characters, and deciding if they're going to say anything, I realize people won't see what I'm holding up.

Charity 26:41 Yes, you can't see what she's holding. But she's holding up a page of her sketchbook and it has, it's just covered in all of these amazing drawings of-are those wolves, dogs? They are so cute. Oh my goodness.

Rachel Elliott 26:57 Dogs. So sometimes-and I also have some pages in here of a grandkid and grandmother talking to each other. It's somewhat based off of my own grandmother, and lots of different-I'm thinking about ideas in a big broad way. And I'm hoping to have a next book going on by the time this podcast is out.

Charity 27:17 Oh, wow.

Jen 27:18 Yeah, well, and if you just want to get her new book that's coming out, it is available, May 3, so keep a lookout. And again, you know, you can find it at all the sites or you can go by your local library and request that they purchase it if they do not have it.

Charity 27:41 Rachel, this has been wonderful. I can't thank you enough for joining us today.

Rachel Elliott 27:46 Thank you. Thanks so much for letting me be here and talk to everybody.

Charity 27:49 And I hope you'll come back. Like when your next book is coming out feel free to come back. And we'll have another great chat about that one, and Carol Burnett or whoever.

Rachel Elliott 27:57 Sure thing.

Charity 27:58 Thanks for joining us for another episode. Send your book and show suggestions or comments to imagine@thelibrary.org. We'd love to hear from you. Check out the library's website at thelibrary.org for these and other great book recommendations and follow us on Facebook for the latest news and events. This has been a production of the Springfield-Greene County Library District. Thanks for listening.