With the release of the latest Babymouse graphic novel, we are delighted to be joined by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm to chat about The BIG Adventures of Babymouse: Once Upon a Messy Whisker (Book 1).
Hi Jennifer and Matthew. It’s so wonderful to have you both here with us today.
Could you please introduce yourselves to our readers?
Hello! We are a New York Times bestselling sister-and-brother team. We are the creators behind the Babymouse, Squish, and Sunny series. The Eisner Award-winning Babymouse books have introduced millions of children to graphic novels.
Jennifer, for any of our readers who are not familiar with the Babymouse series, what can you tell us about the series?
Babymouse is a messy-whiskered mouse with a Big imagination. In fact, her Imagination is so Big that it intrudes on her real life with hilarious results.
Matthew, Who is Babymouse?
She is somewhat of a mystery. But she does bear a passing resemblance to my sister (especially the messy whiskers!)
Jennifer, when you are writing Babymouse, do you write a full script?
I use a storyboard to break out the Narration, Action, and Dialogue. I came from a film background. I was a broadcast producer prior to writing for young readers.
Matthew, as you are illustrating the graphic novel, is there a particular part of that process that you enjoy more?
It’s fun to do the sketching part. I like to draw different camera angles of various shots. We make Babymouse in much the same way as one would create a film.
How long have you been working on, The BIG Adventures of Babymouse: Once Upon a Messy Whisker (Book 1)?
Hmm … about four years now. Making a graphic novel is a lot of work!
Jennifer, what can you tell us about, The BIG Adventures of Babymouse: Once Upon a Messy Whisker (Book 1)?
Babymouse has a BIG imagination. In her dreams, she’s the BEST at everything — she’s the coolest, the smartest, the strongest, and she DEFINITELY has nice, neat whiskers! In real life? Not so much. But WHAT IF Babymouse could make her fantasies come true…?
Matthew, you both have been creating Babymouse stories for a number of years; what has the feedback been like to those stories?
Incredible, really. We have adults in their twenties who tell us they grew up reading Babymouse.
Matthew, the Babymouse world is full of a huge cast of characters. Do you have a favourite character that you enjoy illustrating?
I love Georgie the Giraffe. He’s so tall that sometimes his head is cut off by the top of the page.
Jennifer, as Babymouse stories are all ages stories; do these stories contain aspects of your real-life experiences?
Yep! Sometimes real life gives you the best inspiration. After all, who hasn’t had a bad whisker—or rather, hair—day!
As you are siblings, do you find that makes it more difficult working together?
It actually makes it easier as we can communicate in shorthand.
Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?
Keep reading comics! #TeamBabymouse
Thank you to Jennifer and Matthew for chatting with us. We wish them the best of luck with the latest Babymouse graphic novel.
