Author Spotlight: Melinda Thielbar

Melinda Thielbar is the primary author behind Manga Math Mysteries, our series for Grades 3-5 that relates math to everyday life through the eyes of the students at a Kung Fu dojo. Melinda is a statistician who has previously worked as a math teacher “in real life”.

What was the first thing you were paid to write?

Manga Math is my first paid writing gig, which is awesome and has probably spoiled me for other publishing houses. Everyone I’ve worked with has been professional, helpful, and focused on making the books their very best.

What’s it like working with an artist?

The artists are the best part of writing for Graphic Universe. It really pleases me when they take a script I’ve written and add their own character touches and interpretations. The

Do you write full time? If not, what else do you do for a living? Do you want to write full time?

I was actually chosen to write Manga Math because of my experience teaching statistics and mathematics. I’m now working as a consultant for a statistical software company. One of the really exciting projects I’m working on is saving the wild tiger with statistics. There is a group called WildTrack that uses animal footprints like human fingerprints to track endangered species. Two weeks ago, I got to stand outside a tiger’s cage and feed him treats. We were trying to get him to walk across a nice sandy spot so we could take pictures of his footprints. Of course he wouldn’t do it, but he appreciated the treats.

I love my job as a statistician. People are always excited to see me and have my help, and they’re more than happy to tell me all about their interesting projects. I have many friends who are full-time writers, but overall I think it’s not for me. Writing as a full-time profession often means writing things that are profitable rather than things that move you as an artist. Having a day job gives me the freedom to write what I want to write. It helps that my day job is one of the coolest jobs around!

Have you ever written someone you know into a story? Perhaps at their insistence?

Most of the Manga Math characters are based on my kung fu brothers and sisters. No, I won’t tell you which ones. Amy is actually named after Amy Lau, a writer from New York and a classmate from one of my writing workshops. Amy helped me with a lot of research for a novel I’m working on, so it seemed only right that I make her a character in one of my Graphic Universe books.

The Guinea Pig team’s first book signing is a big one!

Colleen and Stephanie sign some books

On April 17th our new series, Guinea Pig: Pet Shop Detective had its first official book signing event at Books of Wonder, New York City’s oldest and largest independent children’s bookstore. Our author and artist team, Colleen AF Venable and Stephanie Yue, shared a panel with Art Spiegelman of all people, creator of the Pulitzer Prize-winning and market-changing graphic novel Maus, as well as eight other comics creators including George O’Connor, Dean Haspiel, and Mike Cavallaro.

Books of Wonder is famous in New York for the dozens of events it hosts each year featuring local artists at its Chelsea location—and famous for the fabulous Cupcake Café, located right inside the shop and a million miles (figuratively) from Starbucks.

A lot of families were on hand to meet the the panel of comics artists and writers. It was awesome to see kids reading comics, but the large crowd made the artists and authors nervous. (Well, maybe Art Spiegelman wasn’t nervous.)

Colleen prepared a giant version of Guinea Pig #1: Hamster and Cheese to show off the first couple of pages. “When I get nervous, I do arts and crafts,” she explained before things got started.

The giant book worked; as soon as the crowd heard about Detective Sasspants and saw Stephanie‘s adorable art, they instantly turned into fans. The store sold out of the book immediately, and we sold all the copies we brought with us as well.

Books of Wonder Flyer