Have there been any experiences with children and teens that made you realize there was a place for you in the kidlit world?Įvery time I speak to kids and teens and they’re having a good time or excited to meet an author, it makes me think about how I would have liked something like that when I was a kid and how meaningful that would have been for me. Writing for kids is more sophisticated because it’s dealing with more intricate feelings and emotions that, at that age, you don’t really know how to process yet. I wondered, “Can I do this?” I found that it was hard in a way that I didn’t expect. Stargazing is the first book I specifically planned for a younger audience, partly as a challenge. I wasn’t necessarily thinking about kids when I started writing it, but it made sense for the characters to be younger because it’s a story about identity and figuring out who you are. I did The Prince and the Dressmaker next. I started to think about what writing literature for children is all about and how meaningful it is. You go around and talk at libraries and schools I really liked that there was a real enthusiasm for comics, storytelling, and learning.
I found that I really enjoyed the experience and liked the interaction with kids and teens after publication. Then, I did In Real Life with Cory Doctorow, which was my first YA book. When I started in comics, I wasn’t thinking about writing for kids. How did you come to writing for children and teens? This is your fourth published graphic novel and first published specifically for a middle grade readership.
Wang talked with PW about finding her way to writing for young readers, pulling from lived experience, and collaborating with other writers and artists.
Drawing from her own childhood, Wang speaks to the experience of feeling different within your community. After two acclaimed graphic novels for teens, In Real Life and The Prince and the Dressmaker, Jen Wang has written her middle grade debut, a story about two very different Chinese-American girls, who become unlikely best friends while navigating their cultural identities.
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