Rick:

Hello, and welcome to Northwest Philly Neighbors.

I'm Rick Mohr, and my guest is Mount Airy author and illustrator, Amy Ignatow, who's created two popular book series for middle grade kids.

They're funny, insightful, adventurous, and secretly enjoyed by grownups too.

So you've written a lot for middle grade kids.

Could you say why that's a good fit for you?

Amy Ignatow:

I mean, it's funny, though, because I've been working on other stuff too, but I feel most comfortable with middle grade because I think that that is the time in like a kid's development, a person's development, where all of a sudden they're really making decisions for themselves.

You're making your own decisions about who you want to play with.

You're making your own decisions about what you're interested in.

You're making your own decisions about what to wear a lot of the times within reason.

You're making your own decisions about what to read and what you find funny and what you like and you have more independence.

And that's a really sort of a vital part of a kid's development.

And I think that some of the friends that I've made, that I made when I was that age, I'm still friends with today.

So and I mean in like a real friendship way, not a, oh, I see what you've eaten on Facebook, you know, sort of way.

And so for me, writing for that age, it's easy to remember, you know, and it's sort of more fun to me to see, to watch my characters or to create these characters that are sort of pushing the boundaries of what they're comfortable with.

Rick:

What was that time like for you as a kid?

Amy Ignatow:

Oh, God, I don't remember it now.

No, I remember making these friends, you know, and just being like, Oh, my gosh, these friends like me for me.

I like them for them.

Oh, I suddenly have my own taste in music.

I'm not just listening to what, you know, like my mom listens to.

Suddenly, my musical repertoire has expanded beyond, you know, Israeli folk music from the early 1970s.

This is amazing.

You know, I can choose these things.

I can, you know, it's the same sort of thing.

So that's what I remember from that, you know, sort of era is is that, you know, a lot of the kids who I went to school with in elementary school, I did not remain friends with.

I didn't have much in common with in terms of interests.

And then I got to middle school, which for me started in seventh grade.

So it's a little bit older.

And I was just blown away by, you know, these kids from slightly different neighborhoods who I connected with, you know, such a sort of core level.

Rick:

Your books have a lot of insight about the social dynamics of that time.

Did your group pay attention?

Like, were you paying attention to that sort of thing?

Amy Ignatow:

I was not, like markedly not.

My friends from the era will laugh really hard about how not keyed into reality I was, because I was a really dreamy kid making up stories and whatnot.

They were a lot more sort of aware of social hierarchies and trying to not look like a huge nerd and, you know, a little more aware than I was.

But I learned then as I maintain today that if you have your group of friends and you trust them and they trust you, like it really doesn't matter, you know, the rest of the school.

You can be bullied if you have friends, but not nearly as harshly as, you know, it's a lot easier to dismiss a bully if you have friends to connect with.

Rick:

Yeah.

Amy Ignatow:

You know, because you're just like, look at what that person said to me.

That was crazy.

And your friends were like, that person's a jerk.

And then you all have five and you talk about other stuff, or you talk about how much you hate that person and then it ends.

You know, there's, we are social animals and we, most people do better when they have made connections with other people.

And so I write, those are what my books are about.

They're about finding your people.

And sometimes it's about outgrowing your people or finding new people who satisfy another aspect of your personality, who meet you at that place.

Rick:

So if you were not tuned in at that age, when did you kind of pick up those dynamics?

Amy Ignatow:

I may still not pick up on those dynamics.

I mean, the thing that existed then that exists now within me, which I think is probably my least relatable attribute, besides my incredible beauty, my least, or why are you laughing?

Rick:

No, I'm kidding.

Amy Ignatow:

My least relatable attribute is that I have an overabundance of self-confidence.

So I kind of just wander through the world thinking I'm awesome at everything, laughing when I'm not awesome at something.

And then if people don't like me, then that's their problem.

And I know that that's something that's like a mantra that we tell ourselves, or we've been sort of taught to tell ourselves, well, if they don't like me, then they're not good enough for me.

But that's something that I truly believe in my core.

Like, if you don't like me, there's something wrong with you, and I feel bad for you, but I'm just going to move on from there.

And I was like that as a kid, too.

I was super weird.

And then I had friends who were just like, oh, OK.

All right, we're on board with this weirdness.

What is she going to do next?

And fortunately, there are friends who will also check me, you know, when I'm when I've taken it too far.

They're like, no, you're not actually good at that.

You'll never be a hand model, Amy.

Rick:

So I think that's somewhat rare in the idea in the population.

And I'm not particularly like that.

Chloe, my wife is like that.

And I see she's amazing.

I see in her that that comes from being really certain that she was loved as a child, like her parents were so loving with her and she really knew it.

Was that true for you?

Amy Ignatow:

No comment.

No, I mean, I know no offense to my parents.

They're fine people.

But no, it does not come from that.

There were certain behaviors that were modeled for me by my parents that were very advantageous to me becoming like this.

So they don't care what people think of them.

You know, my dad is a crazy person who will just wander around.

Just being, you know, he has the things that he likes and he has the way that he is.

And he does not care if you're not into that.

It's what he's into.

He will like plant an entire garden on a roof in the dead of winter because that's what he feels like doing.

You know, and he can listen to us all say, you're going to fall off and die.

And he just doesn't care.

You know, and then my mother was the same way where she had her very strong opinions and that's who she was.

She did not want to dress up pretty for, you know, to sort of fit a mold and so never taught me that I had to look a certain way or behave a certain way other than sort of generalized politeness.

And I think that that modeled behavior.

So I guess there is an answer.

I think that that model behavior led to, you know, this maybe not an overabundance of self-confidence, but certainly didn't have the sort of stereotypical, you should look a certain way or dress a certain way, or, you know, be quiet in a certain way or whatever that is often brought upon like girls versus boys and stuff like that.

And I don't think it was something my parents thought too hard about.

I just think it's the way that they are.

Does that make sense?

Rick:

Okay.

And well, I want to talk about the odds series.

And there are a couple characters in there that have that quality of not caring what other people think, which I found so refreshing to read because you don't run into it that often.

And it's just really nice when you have people around like that.

Amy Ignatow:

I feel like I'm around like that for some other people.

I think that I'm that person in their lives.

It's just like, I'm just going to enjoy whatever.

Rick:

You want to give an example of that?

Amy Ignatow:

Of me not caring.

Rick:

You being that for somebody else.

Amy Ignatow:

Me being that for someone else.

Let's say we're going to a party, right?

And if you stick with me, you're going to meet new people.

If you have some social anxiety, I'm going to link my arm through yours and we're going to walk around and be like, Hey, who's this?

Let's talk to them.

And there's no fear.

There's no trepidation.

I will talk to you.

And if you are rude to me, I'll be like, Okay.

And then I won't think about it too much again.

You know, I'll just move on to the next person.

Rick:

But you're also seeing that I'm a little nervous about that.

So you're going to kind of give me a little push.

Amy Ignatow:

I won't push you, but I'll bring you along for the ride.

Yeah.

And I think that sometimes that translates as to being just very negative way to say is pushy.

But I do think that the world needs people who, if you have the ability to make connections, then you should use that.

You know?

Rick:

So The Mighty Odds, for people who haven't read this series, could you just give us a little?

Amy Ignatow:

No, I don't remember what's in the book.

No, no, I will.

OK, so The Mighty Odds is a trilogy.

It's the story of a group of tweens, a group of 12 year olds, mostly, who are on a, they find themselves on a bus trip back from from Center City, Philadelphia, to their hometown in sort of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

And their bus, they're on this mini bus, gets into an accident.

And after the accident, they discover that they have not, like not superpowers, but they have like very mediocre powers that they do not know how to control.

So there are four of them.

You have Farshad, he discovers that he has super strength, but only in his thumbs.

You have Cookie, she has the ability to read people's minds, but only if they're thinking very specifically of directions.

There's Martina and she can change her appearance, but only her eye color and again cannot control it.

And finally, there's Nick and he can, has like teleportation abilities, but only four inches and only to the left.

So fairly not impressive abilities that also are a hindrance to them because you don't want to hear people, you know, giving directions all the time and you, you know, what if you want to text somebody and you're not being very careful and you crush your phone with your thumbs that have super strength.

So things like that.

And so they have to band together, even though they're from sort of very disparate backgrounds, they were not friends before.

Some of them were stone cold enemies.

And they have to come together and figure out how they got their powers, what they're going to do about them, and then if there's some bad guys and stuff and, you know, superhero story set in rural Pennsylvania.

Rick:

Cool.

Amy Ignatow:

It's fun.

Rick:

I read them and I really liked them.

Anybody hasn't read them, they should.

Amy Ignatow:

They should.

Yeah.

If you haven't read them, what is wrong with you?

Come on.

Have you been doing things with your life?

That's fine.

Rick:

So the review on the back, the quote that you guys used says, Ignatow turns on his head the classic middle school good kids versus the populars bullies trope.

Can you say more about that?

What you were thinking?

How it turned out?

Amy Ignatow:

Yeah, I think that I think that trips are boring.

Yeah, I mean, I just I really do.

I really don't like it.

I really don't like I think stereotypes are helpful because then you can play with them and subvert them.

And that's not I mean, it's not like a mission.

I just think it makes for a more interesting story.

And I think that kids who are traditional sort of bullies are interesting.

Like there's a reason they're like that.

There's a purpose behind it.

And you might not even be sympathetic to it, but it helps to know it.

And the kids who are, you know, angry all the time, there's a reason for it.

I think one of sort of everyone's sort of favorite character in that book is the kid who doesn't have the superpowers.

This kid Jay, who is the best friend of Nick with the teleportation.

And it's so funny because these are kids, they're such sort of stereotypical nerds, but they kind of don't care about being bullied too badly because they have each other.

And that goes back to that original, you know, thing about if you're with somebody, if you're together, if you have somebody in your life, then you're better off.

And then you see the characters that don't have that.

You see, you know, the characters who don't need that.

It's, to me, to sort of represent these things and also to represent different ethnicities and religious groups that don't often get a lot of space in certainly middle grade, definitely American, you know, middle grade.

That's also really important.

You know, it was important to me to make Farshad Persian and to have that culture on display a little bit and how it's misperceived.

And because we have a lot of Persian kids, you know, kids of Persian descent in the United States of America, and they don't see themselves in books.

So stuff like that.

Yeah.

Rick:

Well, so maybe you could read this passage right before the bus accident, when they're coming back.

Amy Ignatow:

This is terrible because I haven't read these books in a couple of years.

I don't want to brag, but I'm the worst.

As soon as it gets published, I forget everything I wrote down.

So this is going to be like a new fun thing for me.

Farshad liked learning new words.

He was particularly fond of Schadenfreude.

It was a German word that basically meant watching someone else suffer and feeling pretty darned pleased about it.

Not that he was particularly proud of himself for being happy about Cookie's troubles, but seriously, what was he supposed to be feeling?

This was the girl who had taken a stupid racist comment and blown it up into an identity that had brought him nothing but misery for the past two years.

It was nice to see her miserable for a change.

Farshad knew that Cookie had been the one to let everyone at Deborah Reed Middle School know that he was terror boy.

On the first day of school, he'd seen her with a gaggle of new girls, all of whom were looking over at him and whispering.

He'd been feeling pretty good too.

New year, new school, honors classes, a fresh start.

But because of Cookie Parker, he'd never had the chance to make a good impression.

Girls like Cookie were very good at getting people to listen to them.

She had that something, that special power that drew people to her and made them believe whatever she was saying, even when she was telling outright lies.

It was especially pleasing to now see her get caught in one.

Cookie'd feel terror boy looking at her.

So creepy.

She didn't actually believe that he was a terrorist.

Get real, he was only 12.

But still, you never knew what kind of person he could turn into.

He certainly had what it took to be a terrorist.

He was an unpopular loner who gave girls creepy stares.

Gross.

Jay's dumpy friend was directly behind her.

Maybe he was actually Jay's boyfriend or something.

They were always hanging out together.

They were probably a couple.

Gag.

Cookie made a mental note to tell Addison about it when she got home.

Addison would think it was hilarious and totally tell Isaac.

Isaac wouldn't let that juicy tidbit go.

He was like a big dumb shark.

And once he had a good bite of his victim, he wouldn't let go until they drowned.

Cookie smiled.

Things were looking up.

Jay and his chum really shouldn't have messed with her.

So dramatic.

Rick:

Yes.

Well, and that's such a mean thing that she did to him.

Amy Ignatow:

Yeah, she's not a nice kid sometimes.

But then, like with all bullies, there is a reason.

She's a really savvy character.

Cookie is the only African American girl in her school, in this small rural Pennsylvania school.

She was born in Philadelphia.

Her mother moved her out there.

And in order to not be picked on, she made the choice to sort of make herself into this sort of exotic queen bee.

And she puts up with a lot of subtle racism and putting up with being the black friend.

But in return, she gets popularity.

And in order to keep herself popular, she turns against other people.

And that does not work once she can start reading people's thoughts, mostly about directions.

And she needs help.

Hers is like, I think, one of the most torturous of the superpowers.

Or lame powers, sorry.

Rick:

You know, what Farshad goes through with that is so traumatic of being by himself for two years.

Did you know anybody that that happened to or was that?

Amy Ignatow:

I mean, I think we all knew people in, you know, junior high school and high school who suddenly were on the wrong end of things.

I knew a kid named Farshad in high school and he was fine.

He did really well.

I wish him well.

But, you know, you knew those kids and you saw how they suffered.

And I think that if you were in a position, most kids, you know, once they sort of have that mantle, that nickname, you know, I remember this one kid, I'm not going to say his name, who I went to elementary school with, and I think one person one time in kindergarten or, you know, first grade, you know, claimed to have seen him picking his nose and eating it.

And that's like what you knew about him.

Like that was his identity, was that was this kid who did that.

And, you know, and it was so sad.

Rick:

And lasted.

Amy Ignatow:

And lasted.

I mean, he actually, he didn't stay in that elementary school for very long.

And I don't know why, possibly his parents moved.

But I hope he got a really good start somewhere else.

Like a couple of years ago, I looked him up on Facebook out of curiosity.

He seems to be very athletic.

So, you know, that's good.

But, you know, most kids aren't in the position to be like kingmaker and to sort of lift some other kid out of that.

I hope he found his friends.

And that's just one example.

But we all have that.

We all know those kids.

And then if they found other people, they were so much better off.

Also, just, you know, don't pick your nose and eat it.

General rule, listeners, it's not good for you.

Rick:

Well, one thing I really enjoyed about the books is that there's this combination of these serious issues and this humor going on.

So maybe you could read this other passage, which is a little maybe halfway in.

And there's these other characters.

There's Ed, the bus driver who was turned invisible.

Amy Ignatow:

Yes.

Rick:

And there's Abe, this Amish teenager who has come across them.

Amy Ignatow:

Yes.

Rick:

And they are driving back from Philadelphia.

And Ed is invisible, but he's also the only person who can drive.

Amy Ignatow:

Right.

Rick:

So he's got Abe in the front seat.

So on the off chance that they get pulled over, they can quickly switch.

Amy Ignatow:

Oh, I remember this part.

Rick:

Which, of course, isn't going to happen.

Amy Ignatow:

Yeah.

Rick:

So everybody who was at this crash has some power of some kind.

And Abe can communicate with animals and ask them to do things.

Amy Ignatow:

Right.

But the power, just like Ed's power, seems stronger than the younger kids.

So I don't know.

Maybe it's a puberty thing.

So maybe it's a metaphor.

I don't know.

I won't give so much away.

So Ed muttered in expletive, Abe, quickly, we have to trade places.

Excuse me, Abe asked, aghast.

Cookie turned in her seat to see the flashing red and blue lights of the police car behind them.

Ed was pulling over to the side of the road.

You have to get into the driver's seat now.

There was a brief and awkward tussle as Abe climbed over Ed to get into the front seat.

Strap in.

Ed snapped.

What?

Where?

How?

Abe looked like he was going to faint.

Put on your seat belt, Martina explained.

And put your hands on the wheel, Cookie hissed.

Never take your hands off the wheel and open the window.

Rick:

How?

Amy Ignatow:

How does it open?

Abe pressed his hands flat on the window, trying to push it down.

Oh my God, we're going to jail.

Cookie groaned.

They were only a few miles out of Muellersville.

Maybe she could hurl herself out of the car and make a run for it.

Probably a bad idea.

Cookie, that's enough, Ed growled.

Cookie could see Abe's chest flattening as Ed leaned over to get the window for him.

It's this switch.

Just stay calm, hands on the wheel.

We're going to get through this.

Rick:

How?

Amy Ignatow:

Cookie asked as the police officer approached on the driver's side of the car.

License and registration.

The police officer peered into the car.

Abe looked like he was going to faint.

Excuse me?

He asked.

I said license and registration.

The glove compartment door popped open, and Cookie watched as the car registration inched forwards.

She was terrified to say anything, but someone had to help Abe, and it certainly wasn't going to be Martina, who was drawing contentedly in her sketchbook, as if they weren't all about to get arrested.

Right here, Cookie said, what she hoped was an even voice.

The registration is where you left it, right here in the glove compartment.

Abe looked desperately lost.

The open car box.

The police officer eyed Cookie suspiciously and seemed to be on the verge of asking her a question when he let out a loud yelp.

A bird had pooped right in the middle of his ticketing pad.

Oh, that's disgusting, excuse me, the officer grumbled, shaking out the pad.

Another bird poop hit the brim of his hat.

Two poops landed on the officer's left shoulder and three on his right.

A light gray blob of excrement dripped down his chest.

Cookie looked out the window.

They were parked on the side of the road near open farmland and a huge swarm of small birds was flying just above the car.

Cookie looked at Abe, who was staring straight ahead with his hands firmly grasping the wheel.

What the?

The police officer was now covered in bird poop that was falling from the sky like disgusting bird poopy hail.

Just be careful on the road!

He screamed to Abe before sprinting back to his patrol car.

Abe pushed the button to raise the window.

Holy Cookie started.

Good work, Abe, Ed interrupted her.

I think it's time you learned to use the windshield wipers.

Oh, I totally forgot about that part of my book too.

Rick:

Great.

Amy Ignatow:

So I remember doing the illustration for it.

There's no actual poop in the illustration, but I remember working in the illustration.

And now I remember the scene.

Tired.

Rick:

So you are not Middle Eastern or African American or Amish.

Amy Ignatow:

Nope, I'm definitely not Amish.

Rick:

What was it like to write, create those characters and write about them?

Amy Ignatow:

Well, you do as much research as you can.

And you...

I'm also not a boy, you know.

I don't think actually there's any character here who, you know, who I can say, oh, that's me, you know.

Otherwise, all of my books would be about, you know, Jewish girls from Long Island.

Can get kind of old after a while.

No, you do the research, you double check.

I know that some authors use sensitivity readers, which I think is something I might think about for the future, because that's a fairly new thing, where if you are writing in a character's voice that is very different from your own, you can have somebody of that ethnicity look it over and say, this would not happen.

And let's, you know, quite often, our editors also double check these things, you know.

This is why we need more diversity in publishing as well, so that, you know, stuff doesn't slip through, which quite often it does.

Well-intentioned authors make huge mistakes all the time.

Rick:

Do you have to tread carefully as you create those characters and think about what they say?

Amy Ignatow:

Absolutely.

And I keep creating characters from backgrounds whose family members speak different languages, and it's no languages that I am familiar with.

So this is both cool because I get to do the research.

Like when I worked on the Popularity Papers, which was my first series, I had a character named Roland who was from Norway.

I've never been to Norway, and I don't have any Norwegian friends that I know of.

And so what ended up happening is, I mean, the character was very loosely based on Swedish friends I had growing up.

They can't help me.

You know, I can't just call them and be like, hey, this is a different culture.

I've made it more difficult on myself, and I could have just made them Swedish.

But for some reason, I thought Norway was more interesting.

Sorry, Sweden.

You know, and the same holds true with most of those characters.

Rick:

Have you had any feedback from people in those communities?

Amy Ignatow:

Yeah, the Amish love my books, no.

I've had little girls come up to me for the popularity papers and like lean in and ask me, is Lydia Goldblatt Jewish?

Because they recognized it, even though it's never mentioned.

And, you know, that is my background.

You know, I've heard a lot of appreciation for it.

Not too much direct, you know, contact, which means more people need to read my books so you can criticize it.

Rick:

Yeah, I mean, I had not really thought about what it would be like for an Amish teenager to suddenly be in a car where he's never been.

So, well, a nice source of humor potential.

Amy Ignatow:

I moved to Pennsylvania 20 years ago, so it's always sort of objective.

I don't want to exoticize them, but it's fascinating.

You go out to Amish country and these horse and buggies are so common, they just zoom by you.

I just thought, oh, let's think about that for a while.

What's that like?

Rick:

And the horse gets superpowers and can go incredibly fast.

Amy Ignatow:

Yeah, the horse does get superpowers as well.

And, you know, who wouldn't want a superpowered horse?

I wouldn't, actually, that sounds dreadful, but, you know, I'm a city kid.

Rick:

So you mentioned Jay, who's such a good friend to Nick and doesn't care what anybody thinks and is kind of a colorful person.

Did he come from someone that you...

Amy Ignatow:

It's very funny.

I have a good friend who is always the first to read, you know, most of my books.

She's just really supportive.

And I've known her since seventh grade.

And she always sees our mutual friend in this...

In that character, there was a similar one in the Popularity Papers.

And I think I'm just, you know, you're influenced by stuff, even if you don't realize it.

But I did have a friend growing up who was not as extreme in some ways, but more extreme in others.

Yes.

So, you know, this was the friend who, like his first year of college, he was a volunteer fireman.

He had a fireman's key.

And he just took over the elevator in his dormitory in New York City and just rode it up and down from the basement to the 14th floor, according to legend, for hours just for fun.

And nobody else could get in, which is terrible.

It was this old building.

And when they finally opened the doors, they just found him sitting on the inside and they were like, what are you doing?

And he just yelled, I'm taking this thing to Mexico because right, it's just such a good story, but it's so crazy.

And so I often think about that, like that total freedom of being like a, you know, a normal human being who worries about stuff is sort of fun to have.

But I think there are a lot of kids like that.

I think there are a lot of kids who just in their own worlds and perfectly happy there, happier if they have friends, you know, who are willing to go along with the ride, you know, for the ride.

Rick:

The format of that book is interesting where it's mostly prose, but then there are pages of either illustrations or illustrations with dialogue.

So is that a thing or did you make it up?

Amy Ignatow:

Oh, I don't think I made it up.

I think that there's my first series, the Popularity Papers, was very heavily illustrated.

I mean, every page is an illustration.

It's, you know, seven books, 206 pages each have, you know, 208, I don't know, whatever, huge illustrations.

And when I was contracted to do a second series, I was contracted to do with drawing.

So there's definitely, there's so many books out there that have both drawings and illustration.

I mean, I just read one yesterday.

I read Captain Underpants because I was like, what is my daughter talking about?

I should read this.

And so that has it.

Rick:

And I think that doesn't have any pros, though.

That's all a graphic novel.

Amy Ignatow:

No.

Rick:

Oh, no, you're right.

You're right.

Amy Ignatow:

Yeah, it's just so well done that you can't seemless.

Rick:

Yeah, it is seamless.

Amy Ignatow:

You know, and I think that I think there's a real move towards more illustration because people are both respecting it as just as valuable as, you know, pros.

And also the that readers like it and anything that a kid reads, as long as it's not like, I don't know, mind comp.

Everything that a kid reads is good.

You know, anything that gets them interested, it gets their minds working, that gets them, you know, involved is usually a good thing.

Rick:

Do graphic novelists get respect?

Amy Ignatow:

I don't know, because I really read a line between like, you know, I'm very under the radar.

People don't come after me.

But I know that there are a lot of sort of, there's the older way of thinking, thinking like that's not real literature.

And I think that's changing.

I think that's more rare, but it still happens.

And it still happens that you have some parents who say, oh, well, these are, you know, these are like popcorn books.

They're not, you know, and that's nonsense.

And parents need to know that, that these books are just as valid.

And if they're getting your kid to read, then it is a gateway drug to more reading.

So that's good.

But I do think that a lot of people still have that idea that when you pick up, you know, a graphic novel, that it's going to be like, you know, either the old like Donald Duck cartoons or no shade Donald Duck, but you know, or, you know, superhero stuff, which they don't see value in, which is also ridiculous because there's value in that too.

Rick:

So in a comic book, there's the penciler, the inker, the letterer and the colorist, but you did all of it.

Amy Ignatow:

Yeah, like a crazy person.

Yeah, no, I work by myself.

I went to art school.

The style in the Popularity Papers was, I mean, it's a graphic novel, kind of.

It's more like a novel with illustrations.

I think that's what the publisher called it.

But it's supposed to be written by the protagonists.

And so I used materials that a kid could easily get their hands on.

So like actual Crayola markers and, you know, ballpoint pens for writing and stuff like that.

I don't, I feel like the more into my career I get, the more writing I've been doing.

I'd like to get back into the illustration some more.

But I've been working almost exclusively on writing for the past six months.

And that's been kind of fun.

And so I haven't really been thinking too much about, you know, the illustrative side of it.

I just finished, I have coming out.

I don't know if you were going to mention it, so I'm just going to, you know, I have a Jedi Academy book coming out.

Rick:

What's that?

Amy Ignatow:

Jerry Brown created a series of three books called Jedi Academy.

And it is a Star Wars book.

It's non-canonical.

And it is about these sort of Junior Jedi, Junior Jedi is Padawans who go and study to be Jedi's at the Jedi Academy and their professor is Yoda.

And, you know, they do lightsaber training, but then they also, you know, have, you know, social, you know, issues that anyone would have in middle school or high school.

And it was very successful, like New York Times bestseller kind of stuff.

And then they he was done with the series.

And so they wanted to keep it going.

It's scholastic and Lucasfilm.

And then they they tapped Jared Krzysztof, who's amazing.

And he did the next three books and it was Jedi Academy, a new class.

And it was the same basic idea, but it was different characters.

And his main character was named Victor Star-Speeder.

And he had the same thing where he's, you know, he's learning how to be a Jedi.

And also he's in the school musical.

So, you know, it's very cute, heavily illustrated.

And so he did three and they were just like, we want you to do more, but we want you to sort of expand it and have the older sister of Victor Star-Speeder, Christina Star-Speeder, and have her be the hero of the piece, have her be the protagonist.

And he said, okay, he's just like, I feel like we need a female voice.

I feel like we specifically need Amy Ignatow, which was very nice of him.

And so he called me and started to sort of cajole me into doing this.

And I was like, I don't want to do all this drawing and writing.

That's like a lot.

And so, you know, he sort of, you know, kept wheedling me.

And we came up with this wonderful deal where he writes the outline, and then I write the book, and then he does all the drawings.

And these are the things that each of us finds easiest.

I find it easiest to just write goofy dialogue.

He finds it easiest to plot a thing and to draw a thing, and then we're done, and then we high five.

So the first book, which is called Jedi Academy, Revenge of the Sis, is coming out in March 26.

Very soon.

Very soon.

I actually have a copy in my bag.

And so that'll come out.

And then the next one will come out at some next point.

I've done my part.

I just have to edit a little bit, and then I give it back to him, and then he does the drawing.

And it's a super fun collaborative relationship, and he's brilliant.

He just became a National Book Award finalist, not for Jedi Academy, for his YA book about his own autobiography, which is wonderful, called Hey Kiddo, strong recommendation to everyone.

He is a good friend and a great collaborator, and I've said too much nice things.

So I will also say he smells.

Too much complimenting.

Rick:

So that's what the main thing you've been up to since The Odds?

Amy Ignatow:

That and just I have a picture book coming out called The Cutest Thing.

And I didn't do the illustrations for that either.

I just wrote it.

Somebody else illustrated it.

And that's going to come out sometime in September.

Rick:

And what age group is that Amy?

Amy Ignatow:

That is like a little kid picture book.

It is a board book, I think even.

It's cute.

It's about cute things.

And it's got cuteness in it.

Rick:

And you have a seven year old and a five year old?

Amy Ignatow:

A seven year old and a four year old.

I believe this week they are turning seven and a half and four and a half.

So they are pretty excited about that.

Rick:

So did you have some insight from being a mom that helps you write that?

No.

Amy Ignatow:

People ask that all the time.

They're like, do your children inspire me?

And I'm like, no, they exhaust me.

Rick:

That's it.

Amy Ignatow:

I mean, I love them.

They're nice.

But no, I mean, I write because that's my job and that's because it's my calling.

And, you know, so far, they're just a completely separate part of my life.

Although at seven, she has started to read my books.

And so that is, well, she gets her hands on them.

They're everywhere in the house.

And so she claims to have read the first Jedi Academy book, which is interesting because she's never seen Star Wars.

So has no context besides hearsay over what it's about.

So that's fun.

She has no idea.

I think she gets most of it.

If you ask my four year old what Star Wars is about, he will tell you that it is about a story about a man named Dark Vader who kidnaps Princess Leia, puts her in jail, and then Chewbacca gets her out.

And that's the whole story.

It's not 100% wrong.

So, yeah.

Rick:

I did not know that Moore College of Art is women only.

Amy Ignatow:

It is.

I love it.

Rick:

What were the pros and cons of going to art school with all women?

Amy Ignatow:

Well, have you ever met a boy in art school?

Rick:

Yes.

Amy Ignatow:

They're awful.

Sorry if you went to art school.

I think that male artists are fine.

So much stereotyping is going to come from this.

But I do think that men can take the air out of the room, especially young men.

And when you remove them from the equation and you let women's voices just absolutely be heard and sore, it's great.

It's a great experience.

I loved going to Moore.

And again, no offense to all you male artists out there.

I am friends with many of you.

But you know what you were like in college, and you were gross and awful.

And so I didn't have to deal with that, and it was great.

Yeah, no, it's great.

If there's a con, it's that it's a smaller school.

And so there were some things that we didn't have there at the time that I was going there.

You know, like animation was not a thing that we had.

Or dance.

I don't know.

It's just a visual art school.

So yeah, Moore College of Art and Design.

It's a great college.

Rick:

Do you refer back to things that you learned there?

Do you remember?

Amy Ignatow:

Oh, absolutely.

I was just talking about this with my husband last night.

Simple things like a color theory class is invaluable.

You know, materials classes, design, basic design, figure drawing, all of those things.

Rick:

Well, thanks very much for talking with us.

Amy Ignatow:

Thank you for having me.

Good luck in this podcasting venture.

Rick:

For more about Amy Ignatow, see the show notes or go to our website, nwphillipodcast.net where you can also suggest a guest when you run into someone in Northwest Philly with good stories to tell.

If you like the show, please tell your friends, share on social media and give us a rating.

I'm Rick Moore.

Thanks for listening.

See you next time for more stories from Northwest Philly Neighbors.