Maddie Frost, illustrator and author of Wombats!: Go Camping (Viking Books for Young Readers), talks about the graphic novel space and new female creators of comics coming out of the woodwork.
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About the book: Wombats!: Go Camping by Maddie Frost. Published by Viking Books for Young Readers.
Camping or Glamping?
Albert and Pickles are an unlikely pair of besties and they're ready to explore the great outdoors for the first time. Albert is ready to camp the old-fashioned way while Pickles thinks he's going to a five-star resort under the stars. Pickles is going to have to find a way to cope in the wilderness for one whole night, but luckily, Albert is there to assist in pitching a tent, cooking by the fire, and embracing the great outdoors.
While navigating their way through the rest of this camping trip, Albert and Pickles run into their old friend, Platters, who is in search of the Woolly Moon Beast--a legendary ferocious creature. Together, they must reunite a lost baby koala with its mama while this potentially dangerous predator looms large in the woods.
WOMBATS! is a brand new graphic novel series that is perfect for fans of Jack books, Baloney and Friends and Narwhal and Jelly.
*NOTE: This transcript was AI-generated and may contain errors. I have done my best to clean up as much as I can. This process will improve naturally and with time. Thank you for understanding.
INTRO
Matthew: Welcome back to the Children’s Book Podcast, where we dive deep into the world of creativity, storytelling, and the magic behind the art of creating books for children.
I’m your host, Matthew Winner. Teacher. Librarian. Writer. Fan of kids.
Today, we’re excited to welcome a guest whose humor and storytelling have charmed readers of all ages. Joining us is the incredibly talented Maddie Frost, the illustrator and author of the hilarious graphic novel, Wombats!: Go Camping. Maddie’s unique ability to blend humor with engaging storytelling in the graphic novel format has made her work memorable and very, very loved within the walls of our elementary school library.
Wombats!: Go Camping is a hilarious and heartwarming adventure that showcases Maddie’s knack for creating characters that leap off the page with personality and charm. Her storytelling is full of wit and humor, making it a joy for readers young and old to experience the world of wombats Albert and Pickle in a silly and page-turn-y way.
In this episode, we’ll explore Maddie’s creative process, the inspiration behind Wombats!: Go Camping, and how she uses the graphic novel format to tell stories that are both visually engaging and laugh-out-loud funny.
So, without further ado, let’s welcome Maddie Frost to the show!
INTERVIEW
Maddie: Hi, I'm Maddie Frost. I am an author, illustrator of picture books.
You may know some of my books. Um, I'm the author and illustrator of Wombats Go Camping, my very first graphic novel, Mug Seagull, Just Be a Jelly, Iguana Be a Dragon, Cappy Bear is Friends with Everyone, Wakey Birds, and I think that's it. And more on the way, of course.
Matthew: Yeah, I love that you, and this is going to be an assumption, but I just love it about your work.
I've noticed it about your work is that, um, You tend to make your muse animals. And I just, I think it's wonderful. Smug Seagull in particular was like a big hit in our house. But yeah, yeah, yeah. Very funny books. And, um, I'm just so glad you're in comics. And I saw, must have been on Amazon or something. I saw the cover for the second one that'll come out next year.
Oh, is it already
Maddie: on there? No way. It was
Matthew: Wizards, right? It was definitely, yeah. It
Maddie: is. Yeah. They go to, um, Wizards War. Basically, it's very Coney Island meets Harry Potter. I had so much fun illustrating that one. Yeah. A lot of cool stuff. Oh, more on that later,
Matthew: but I'm glad that you've already got more going.
That's that's great, Maddie. Okay. So first things first, uh, for any kid listening, what's a wombat? And, uh, of course the follow up is going to be, uh, who are the wombats that we meet in your book?
Maddie: Yes, so a wombat is actually a marsupial, um, and they're mostly found in Australia. And I have a few notes on them.
I know that most of you guys, most of you kids know this one fact. It seems like every school visit I go to and I talk about it, they, everybody already knows this, that they poop cube shaped. Yeah. And they also, um, use their butts as self defense. Which I think, anywhere I can talk about a butt. They use their butts as self defense in their burrow.
So if, let's say, um, a predator like a fox is coming, they will sort of block the, um, the burrow entrance with their round butt.
And so, and so, yeah. I was just gonna say, so who are the wombats
Matthew: in this story? I love, I was waiting on the cubic poop. I was waiting. I was like, let's go. Yeah, here we go. Um, no, but who, who are the wombats we meet in Wombats Go! campaign?
Maddie: So the wombats are Albert and Pickles and they are best friends.
They're neighbors. Uh, they share a burrow. Um, and Albert is definitely more level headed, he's outgoing, he sort of moves the story forward with his adventurous personality, and Pickles is a little more, he's silly, he's Um, more emotional and the two of them together are a great match for each other because they bring out the best of each other.
Yeah. Dynamic duo.
Matthew: I love that dynamic, Maddie, that you didn't have, I don't know, one be the scaredy cat, one be the fun one or the whatever they really do. There is a great tension of them pulling each other in. I thought that was great. Yay for you. Yay for you doing that. That was great. So, um, I know ideas can come from all places.
There doesn't have to be an idea or a starting point for this, but, um, I also know cause you said it a moment ago, or maybe you even said it in the book as well. Um, I know that you love comics. I'm so glad you're making comics. I, I would just wonder what moment or idea or event inspired you to write Go Camping or even to start the Wombat series.
Maddie: Yeah, I, well, I actually got to study animation in college. So I had a love for characters and storytelling from a really young age. And that eventually led me to books, but there was always that graphic novel space that I felt like I was really drawn to because it's a lot like making storyboards, um, for animation.
And so, and I also think, you know, I love seeing all these new female creators of comics coming out of the woodwork and it's like, Yes! Like, we're, we're funny, girls are funny too! And so, I knew I wanted to do a dynamic duo, um, I'm a huge Spongebob fan, Spongebob and Patrick. So I knew that it would be a dynamic duo, um, told in a comic book format.
And I picked wombats because I had always known about wombats. I watched a lot of Steve Irwin as a kid, and Animal Planet, which is always still great. So I do love animals, and I thought at the time, and there's more wombat books popping up now, but at the time, a few years ago, I thought that I hadn't seen wombats in a picture book before.
I love being original and coming up with You know, not very common characters that you see every day in picture books. So I went with them and, and yeah, and they're really, really fun to draw too.
Matthew: I don't see wombats popping up a lot. Maybe you're riding a trend the way that sloths came in or owls came in.
Maybe you're right, which is what narwhals came in. That was great. That's a wonderful thing.
I love, you said cinematic.
I love the way that it's a screenplay. I love the way. I mean, we talk about when I, I'm on the other end, the librarian, the, the graphic novels advocate, whatever. I love talking about trans literacy in comics, that we're reading the pictures and we're reading the words. And most importantly, that we're reading what's between the panels.
Oh, I love that so much. So I, I love that. I, I rarely get to say, Oh, you wrote one. I know what it's like. I know what it's like. And I love how great it feels. Doesn't it feel great to write to every page turn? Oh, my God. It really does. It is so
Maddie: fun. And it's I love it because it's happening in real time.
It's like basically like reading a cartoon show. Yeah. And yeah, and I love how so much of the action come from zero words at all.
Matthew: Yeah. It
Maddie: almost doesn't feel like reading like you're, I know there's text and I know there's dialogue and stuff like that, but you're just so in the story. Um, it's like moment to moment.
And I just think you kind of just get lost in all of that. And all of a sudden the whole, you've read the whole book, you know,
Matthew: Isn't that the magic of comics too, that you do read them very quickly often. But I find in the library, my readers come back to comics over and over. So while you read that one book in print one time, and that's great.
Often you read that same comic like three or four times, whether it's comfort or it's like rewatching a favorite show, whatever it is, I just don't see that with books in, in, um, prose, the way that I see it. with books in, in, in panels and in that comic format. So good. Anyway. Okay. So, um, note continuing forward.
There's a note, um, In your book that this is where the note came from. I said, I do not like camping. You do not like camping. I'd love for you to share more about why not? Cause I think it'd be super funny to hear you share why you don't like camping. And also I'd love to ask you what sorts of adventures or trips or whatever things you do like.
Maddie: Yeah. Well, to be fair, like, I don't think I've had enough experience. actually camping. I feel like I shouldn't have said I don't like camping because maybe I haven't been enough or I haven't tried it enough to, to really get a handle on it. However, I will say that I am not, I'm not the best sleeper and that's on an expensive mattress.
So put me on the ground in nature and I'll be up all night. And I'm also, you know, I'm a natural, I'm like pickles. I'm anxious. So, you know, I think just being out in the wilderness does scare me a little bit, um, but maybe if I had some, lots of friends around, or, um, I had my, maybe if I had my two trusty dogs with me, I'll feel safer.
Um, but that's, yeah, stuff I'll have to kind of try if my daughter, right, will want to go camping, I have to, you know, be brave, right? Um, and also there's bugs, but I think my idea of adventure really is, this is going to sound super cheesy, but it really is adventure. My imagination. I think I, I've never had a huge travel bug.
There are things I do want to see in my life and places I want to go, but my favorite place to be and to travel to is, is wherever my imagination takes me. And it has taken me, you know, over the past eight years or so into all these other, even to these books, you know, making Smug Seagull and Kathy Bera.
And I sort of just go there and. and I make books from it. They're like my little souvenir.
Matthew: That's such a wonderful thing to be able to tap into though, of, of really valuing how that creative work is able to transport you. And also, I guess, your willingness to go there with the muse, with the idea. That's great.
Yeah. Well, there doesn't need to be camping in the future, but if there is, I hope it's great. There doesn't need to be. Yeah, I know.
Maddie: There doesn't need to be, I know.
Matthew: The air mattress is always a little flatter in the morning, which is not great for bad sleepers. No, it's not. Anyway, um, I, I want to ask you more a general question.
Uh, you're welcome to answer however you would like, but I wonder if, if we want to try something new and maybe confront our fears or just do something that we never thought of doing before, what's the best way that you have found to do that? What are ways that work to confront our fears or to get outside of our comfort zone?
I'm not intentionally trying to say to do something scary. I don't, I don't want to imply that whatsoever. I also don't think your characters would have gone camping if one truly felt, if Pickles really felt, granted Pickles idea of it was different, but didn't feel like there was something threatening or anxiety.
And I appreciate Maddie that you, this wasn't a book about you have anxiety, but we're going to push our way through it. Cause I, I just feel like that's really insensitive. I'm glad for the way you did it. So I hope you hear. The way I'm trying to ask this question.
AD BREAK
Maddie: do. Yeah, I do. And that comes from, you know, I'm a very sensitive.
person. I was a sensitive kid. I'm a sensitive adult. Um, I, and just, I think about sometimes students, when I do school visits and kids, they think that adults are these like superheroes and we don't have any fears or we're perfect. And, and it couldn't be further from the truth. Um, And so I have doubt and fear and anxiety and worry just like anybody.
Um, and it doesn't matter how old you are anyway. And I think throughout my life and especially my career, I have learned that the best way to do something that gives you a little bit of worry and doubt or fear is just to do it. Um, I'm coming from, you know, Whether it's just trying to write a story that maybe I think nobody will like, or maybe it won't get published, or it's just to do it anyway.
And I think that's always been my motto is, um, just to try. Um, there's nothing wrong with trying, and you'll never know unless you try. You never know if you'll like something. You'll never know, um, what's on the other side if you don't sort of explore that. And so, yeah, I think, um, Just to dive in and be curious and, and I know that, you know, you'll learn something, uh, as you, as you sort of adventure through whatever it is you're wanting to do.
Matthew: I like that feeling that you don't have to like it. Trying it is the thing and learn, learn, reflect whatever as you do it just but try it though. It's okay if you don't like it. Yeah, I think I, I was, I was and continue to be a very sensitive person. I've been prone to worrying a lot and I think I, from whatever, whatever's there in my upbringing, um, something got lodged in there where it was.
If you're not going to like this, you shouldn't try it. Why are you doing it? If you're not going to like it, um, which is, I think it really closes me off to a lot of things. Yeah. To the point now though, where my, where I'm trying to do some new things. My wife is like, that doesn't seem like you would like that at all.
You're right. But also I'm trying, I'm trying to do things that I might not like. Maybe she also knows like, well, Honey, I don't want to have to hear you complaining for the next six months about how you didn't like
Maddie: it. Cause it makes you vulnerable, right? Like, we don't know, we don't like, I mean, that feeling is not a pleasant one being vulnerable.
And it's the same with like, you know, putting yourself out there, whether it's, you know, I've been starting to do more like comic events and festival events and things like that. And it's sort of just like, here I am out in the open. These are my books. Yeah. It's sort of like just shining a spotlight on yourself and just being like, You know, if you believe in it, then that's really all that matters.
Matthew: Oh, I've, I've tried to get myself to a, any sort of convention and get a table and I'm like, I
Maddie: saw present at the, um, the children's society, uh, in New York city. I never told you. Yeah. I
Matthew: saw you and
Maddie: I like hid behind the
Matthew: breakfast bar. I'm, I'm like, I'm okay at if you invite me to do a thing. Okay. I am, I am not okay.
Like I have a very hard time putting my name into the hat or like what I really would love to do. Cause the exposure I feel like would be fantastic. I'm like, how much could it possibly cost to get like a booth at artist alley in ALA, just a little podcaster booth. Maybe I can share the podcast table with like four other people.
But I'm like, God, I don't think I can sit there and have, feel like person after person's judging me, being like, oh, podcast, like, oh my God, what is this? I'm sure it'd be fine, but it's been, man, it's been 10 years. I know, but
Maddie: people love you. You are such a great person in the picture book community. We all like, I mean, I feel like.
Nine years ago, Maddie is like, would be pinching herself that I'm talking to you. And I just remember being like, this is the podcast, the podcast. Remember listening to you and just like looking to the sky being like one day.
Matthew: But isn't that weird though, that that's what we do to ourselves. Or that's what I do.
I'll use that. That's what I do to myself. I guess like imposter syndrome, like who are you to go do this thing? You don't like this kind of stuff. Why would you go kayaking? You're not a person who kayaks, whatever it is. It's like right. Oh, that's so funny that we do that to ourselves, that we stop ourselves.
From trying a thing. It's
Maddie: the I'm not good enough thing, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Matthew: It's so, anyway, it's so just funny that we do that. Um, I love your advice though of just like, just try it. Cause again, like if I do a table at wherever. Okay. So I invest whatever it is, a couple hundred bucks to do it. Which is not nothing from a show that makes nothing.
But. It'd be the same if I was paying to go to a conference and ended up feeling like, Oh, the programming sucked at this conference. Yeah. What's the difference? It's
Maddie: the same thing. The thing that I realized about putting yourself out there and just in the world of, um, like picture books and, and, um, being at these events and stuff and, um, is that.
Maybe sure I'll have a table set up with books and maybe I won't sell a lot. However, I'll like make really amazing contacts or friends. And then it becomes this whole, yeah, you expand your little bubble, which you think is so small. Cause you just, I just like work alone in a room all day. And then there's like, you meet people and it's like, we're all, we all feel the same way about certain things.
Matthew: It's a nice feeling. I have that feeling about the very kind words you're sharing toward me is, wait, people actually listen to the show? Yeah. What do you mean you've heard of the show? It's that, but I would love to ask you if there's something that you could read, I'd love to ask you to share an excerpt or a spread from Wombats! Go Camping with us.
Maddie: All right. Um, let's do, I know…
Matthew: Let's do it. Are you being pickles?
Maddie: I was going to be pickles. I kind of want to hear your pickles, though. Yeah. Oh, you pickles?
Matthew: I'll do whatever, truly.
Maddie: All right. Um, you know, you're
Matthew: the author though and Pickles, you should, you should be reading. Set us up. Tell the listeners what, what's going on here.
Maddie: Okay. So this is just after the wombats get to the campsite and Albert is of course loving it. He's so outdoorsy and Pickles is, um, Well, first of all, he thought that there would be a luxury cabin at the top of the hill where they go up, but there's not, and so Albert has to, they have to set up their tents, and so Albert's setting up his tent, no problem, whistling along, and Pickles has his, and, um, he sets it up, but then he, it falls apart, and he says, I need help.
And then he says, so what do we do after the tent?
Matthew: Then we have lunch.
Maddie: Great. I'm starving. I could definitely go for some macaroni or a pizza or a cheeseburger with extra pickles, curly fries, and a strawberry milkshake.
Matthew: We are having a toasty, roasty, Delishiosti, Pot of Beans, Bloop,
Maddie: Blech, Greenface, I think I'll just eat my pickles, thank you very much.
And the pickles walks away from the campsite to a little pond nearby, and he's talking to a frog who's not really paying attention, and he's eating a pickle from his giant jar of pickles. And he says, this has been the worst day of my life. Have you ever had expectations shattered into a million pieces?
Well, I have, and let me tell you something. Rivet, in the front, jumps on a jar of pickles, and boing! He jumps off the pickles, and they go everywhere! Swoosh! Into the mud! My pickles! Albert, Albert! Albert, come quick! My pickles are in the mud! He goes back to Albert, who was reading in his tent, nice and peaceful, and Pickles is just freaking out.
Hehehe.
Matthew: You smell like pickles, and there's something on your butt.
Maddie: Huh? Oh my gosh! There really is something on his butt. And he Pickles screamed! Get it off! Get it off! Stay still!
Please don't bite my butt! Please don't bite my butt! Please don't bite my So whack! And Pickles falls down.
And Albert says, ask him if he's okay. Pickles, are you alright? Is it still there?
Matthew: Yep.
Maddie: And so, Matthew, what do we see here? What is it?
Matthew: We see a wide eyed, wide eared koala. Sitting on top of Pickle's butt.
Maddie: And so, they, now, we don't really know why this koala is here, what this koala wants. But, if you read the rest of the graphic novel, you will find a cliffhanger.
I love drawing baby koala. It was so fun to just kind of put him just all over Pickle's head and like flop him around. Yeah,
Matthew: it looked like an attachable, like you could just sort of, the arms would stay wherever you put, it was great. Yeah. Wonderful. That was great. I appreciate that. You were
Maddie: a great Albert.
Matthew: Do it again.
Maddie: That's great.
Matthew: So, um, I want to end our time together by asking you what I ask all of our guests, and that is that I'll see a library full of children soon. Is there a message I can bring to them from you?
Maddie: Yes, and that is to, I'm going to go Ted Lasso here, and say to believe. To believe in yourself.
And you can do anything at all.
OUTRO
Matthew: Thank you to Maddie Frost for joining me on The Children’s Book Podcast.
You can pick up your own copy of Wombats!: Go Camping (Viking Books for Young Readers) wherever books are found. Consider supporting independent bookstores by shopping through Bookshop.org. You can also use my affiliate link by clicking on the book’s name in our show notes. I highly recommend checking out the audiobooks! Both are available through Libro.fm and you can support independent bookstores in the process!
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And on that note…
Be well. And read on.
End Of Episode
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