Brotherly Mischief and Mayhem: Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey on their Middle Grade Graphic Novel Link + Hud: Heroes By A Hair

I am absolutely thrilled to welcome Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey to the blog to discuss their upcoming middle grade graphic novel Link + Hud: Heroes By A Hair!

Jarrett is an award-winning author-illustrator. He makes books for kids with his brother, Jerome. Their books include It’s a Sign!, Somewhere in the Bayou, The Old Boat, and their author-illustrator debut, The Old Truck, which received seven starred reviews, was named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, and received the Ezra Jack Keats New Author Honor.

Jarrett spends his time writing and making stuff in his home near Austin, TX, where he lives with his wife, their two boys, a dog named Whiskey, and another dog named Ford. When he’s not writing or making stuff, you might find him fishing on a river somewhere or tinkering under the hood of his new old F100.

Jerome is a designer, illustrator, and writer, originally from Houston, TX. He studied graphic design at the Art Institute of Austin and has worked as a technical writer, freelance graphic designer, and illustrator.

Since 2016 he has been a graphic designer at The Walt Disney Company where he uses design and illustration to visually tell stories in print, digital, and immersive experiences for Disney global business development. He works primarily from his home office near Clearwater, FL, where he lives with his wife, daughter, and son.

Jerome is a member of the SCBWI and shares a previous author credit with Jarrett for Creepy Things Are Scaring Me (HarperCollins, 2003), which they wrote as teenagers.

Thank you both for joining me today! Let’s start from the beginning. How did the idea for Link + Hud: Heroes By A Hair come about?

Jarrett: The idea of making a book about two brothers actually came from our editor, Simon Boughton. He just asked if we’d ever considered it. We hadn’t considered it, but after he asked us, we were like, “Duh, we’re brothers. We make books together. Of course we should make a book about brothers together!” We knew the only way we’d want to do it was by pulling heavily from our own childhood for the story.

Title: Link + Hud: Heroes By A Hair
Authors: Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey
Published: March 7, 2023
Publisher: Norton Young Readers
Format: Graphic Novel

Can you tell us a bit about the creative process behind the book, from brainstorming to finalizing the illustrations?

Jarrett: This book represents a lot of firsts for us. We’d never written a novel or a graphic novel before. Never made anything longer than a picture book. Other than specifying a very loose age range, Simon gave us the freedom to make whatever we wanted. So, we started by reading a bunch of other books in the category.

Jerome: After we had a better idea of what was out there, we talked through a lot of questions about what we wanted to make and how we’d make it. Would we each write a brother? Maybe alternate chapters? Would it be straight prose? Graphic novel? Something else? How would we make the art? Printmaking like our picture books or some other way? We ultimately decided Jarrett would write the words and I’d draw the pictures, that we’d do a mix of graphic panels and illustrated prose, and that I’d draw the pictures with line art rather than printmaking due to how much art there would be and to better fit the style and vibe we wanted.

Jarrett: We finished the first three chapters–a graphic novel chapter and two prose chapters–to give ourselves and Simon a better idea of how we thought the book could work. We liked it. Simon liked it. That’s when we knew we had it figured out.

Link + Hud: Heroes By A Hair is based on your childhood together, how much of the story is based on real events? How did your experiences as brothers influence the dynamic between the main characters, Link and Hud?

Jarrett: Yes, parts of it are pulled straight from our childhood. Other parts are heavily inspired. Link and Hud Dupré are us. Along with our other two brothers, we turned the house upside down creating all sorts of other worlds, just like they do. Link and Hud’s parents are our parents, though our dad was a dentist, not a podiatrist. He was just as entrepreneurial as Dr. Dupré, though. The Black hair-care line Dr. Dupré invents called Au Salon is the same Black hair-care line our dad invented. Our dad couldn’t sell it either, so we had boxes of it filling our closets. Our parents brought on an elderly old school, no-nonsense babysitter to watch us after several younger babysitters couldn’t cut it. Her name was Ms. Joyce. Link and Hud call her “Goldtooth.” We never called her that, but she really did have a gold tooth.

Jerome: And we never got Ms. Joyce fired, but we did spend plenty of timeouts in the bathroom. We hated it just as much as Link and Hud do.

Can you talk about the process of transitioning from a picture book like The Old Truck, to now working on a middle grade graphic novel? What are some of the differences or similarities of the creative process for each format?

Jarrett: It was certainly different, but also the same in a lot of ways. There’s more text, more pictures, more story, but we tried to stick to our usual process where it made sense. We had to figure out format and voice and all those sorts of things, but before that, we started out like we always do. With story. Like, big picture, what are we even trying to say? What story are we trying to tell? What are the major beats? How do we hit those beats? How do we tell that story (so it’s not boring!)? Structure and format and all those other things followed, which is very similar to how it goes with our picture books. Like Jerome mentioned, on this book I wrote the words and he drew the pictures, so that’s a difference, but we were both still very involved in deciding how the text and visuals would work together.

Jerome: I agree. The biggest difference was just the scale. And mixing mediums, of course. This was our first time mixing panels and prose.

The format you used is so unique! I love the way you blend prose and graphic novel-style illustrations. How did you come up with the idea to use both prose and graphic novel elements?

Jarrett: We love comics and prose and had decided early on that we wanted to put them together in an interesting way. At one point we considered writing one brother in prose and the other in panels. We almost went that direction until we recognized an important part of the brotherly dynamic we wanted to capture, something that’s true to us as brothers, anyway: shared reality. In the book, we use the graphic novel chapters to show Link and Hud’s imagined world and the prose chapters to show the real world. But these brothers aren’t just playing make believe. They’re interacting with the real world together with a shared view informed by their boundless and active imaginations. The transitions from their view of the world in panels to the real world in prose provided a great way for us to show the consequences of that and made for some of the funniest moments in the book.

If readers only take one message away from Link + Hud: Heroes By A Hair, what would you want it to be?

Jarrett: Well, it would have to be the deepest and most serious message, of course: That it’s okay to wear their underwear on their heads if they want. It’s heroic, even. They should just make sure it’s their underwear and not their brother’s!

Jerome: I just want readers to enjoy the book and laugh out loud at all the funny parts.

What can readers expect from future installments in the Link + Hud series?

Jerome: More Link and Hud. More adventures. More brotherly mischief.

Jarrett: We’re working on book 2 now and hope to make many more after that!


You can learn more about the Pumphrey Brothers and their work at their website thepumphreybrothers.com or on social media. Jarrett is on Instagram @jpumphrey and Twitter @jpumphrey,Jerome is on Instagram @wjpumphrey and Twitter @wjpumphrey, and you can find both brothers on TikTok @pumphreybrothers.

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Author Spotlight: Helen Rutter

I’m thrilled to have the privilege of interviewing Helen Rutter today for our latest Author Spotlight! Helen is a playwright, actor, and author of The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh, which is releasing here in the States next week. She lives in the UK with her comedian husband, two children, and two dogs. You can find her online at helenrutter.com.

Thank you so much for joining me for this interview, Helen! To get us started, would you like to introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a bit about The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh?

Hello! Thank you so much for having me! My name is Helen Rutter and THE BOY WHO MADE EVERYONE LAUGH is about eleven-year-old Billy Plimpton. He loves jokes and dreams of becoming a stand-up comedian but, because of his stutter, doesn’t think it’s possible.

What inspired you to write The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh? 

The book was inspired by my son Lenny who stutters, I wanted to write a book starring a character like him. We had never read anything about someone who stutters before and so I thought it was a story that needed to be written, at that point I had no idea if it would be published!

Billy Plimpton is such a delightful main character. He’s funny, kind, and lovable, even when you want to tell him he’s making a mistake. Is Billy based on your son at all? If so, how has he reacted to the success of the book, and the way people tend to adore Billy?

I am so happy that people seem to love Billy as much as I do. He very much started out being heavily based on Lenny but, as time went on and the editing continued, Billy’s personality developed and grew further away from Lenny’s and he became his own unique character. There is still a lot of cross over, both Billy and Lenny love playing the drums, are great at maths and have a similar love of lists, facts, and detail! Lenny has been so chuffed with the success of the book and has even done TV interviews over here in the UK to celebrate its launch!

It must be hard, but extremely rewarding to write a story that you’re so personally connected to. What was the most challenging part to write? And which part was the most fun?

I loved writing this story so much, it helped me to understand Lenny a bit more and reading it out to him every bedtime was a real bonding experience. I think the thing that was the most challenging to write was the Granny Bread strand as that felt particularly emotive as my mum is now 82 and the character was firmly based on her. The most joyful scene was the talent show. As I wrote that scene I could almost hear the music swelling in the background and could totally imagine every second of it. I wanted to get up and cheer for Billy after writing that scene!

Title: The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh
Author: Helen Rutter
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: August 3, 2021
Format: Hardcover



The supporting cast is made up of several other children in Billy’s school who are all finding their way in life with their own individual “issues”. I love that this cast really illustrates how we all have something that makes us “different”, and that there really is no “normal”. Was this a point you wanted to highlight from the beginning or did it come to you through writing the book?

Absolutely! I think that everyone feels different in some way, whether it is something that the world can see or something that’s hidden away. The characters all deal with their situations in a unique way and ultimately all of them are more empathetic because of what they are going through. From the start I wanted his friends and the supporting cast to be a celebration of uniqueness and a starting point for conversations about empathy.

If you could spend the day with one character from The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh who would you choose, and how would you spend the day?

That is a tough question! I guess I’m not allowed to have a board game-based party with all of them?! If not then I will go for taking Mr Osho to Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club… I would LOVE that! Ask me tomorrow though and I may choose drawing with Skyla… No, snorkeling with Granny Bread… No, cheerleading with Chloe… No, watching stand up with Billy. IT’S TOO HARD!!

Not to spoil anything, but I absolutely loved that Billy finds a happy ending without compromising himself or making any dramatic changes. I love that he simply learns he was good enough all along. As a parent of a child with a stutter, what advice would you give to parents hoping to help their child find the confidence in themselves that Billy finds?

Gosh every journey is so personal. What has helped us may not mean much to anyone else but I guess looking back at our journey with a bit of perspective I would tell my former self that, as with most things in life, stutters and the emotions that are attached to them are forever changing so don’t cling onto one idea of how it is or how it feels.

I hear that you’re working on another novel now. Can you tell us a bit about that?

Yes! It’s a story about a boy called Archie Crumb whose wishes start coming true and he doesn’t know if it is all just a crazy coincidence or whether maybe he has a bit more power over his life than he first thought. It’s a story about positive thinking, self-belief and hope.

Do you have any plans to revisit Billy Plimpton’s story or maybe any of the other children in Bannerdale?

I would LOVE to revisit Billy and everyone at Bannerdale. Watch this space!!

Is there anything else you’d like to share with Mutually Inclusive’s Readers?

I am doing a virtual launch of the book on Tues Aug 3rd @ 5pm EST where Gordon Korman will chat all things writing, reading, and Billy Plimpton with me! You can sign up to join us both here: https://www.rjjulia.com/event/virtual-helen-rutter-boy-who-made-everyone-laugh-gordon-korman-linked

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Last Gate Of The Emperor

If you’re looking for a book for a middle grader, I have a treat for you today.

Last Gate of the Emperor by Kwame Mbalia and Prince Joel Makonnen could be described as Black Panther meets Ready Player One set in a mythical Ethiopia in outer space. With elements of both science fiction and fantasy, this page turning Afrofuturist tale follows a young boy named Yared as he joins the Hunt for Kaleb’s Obelisk – an augmented reality game that will change his life forever.

Yared lives a lonely life in the city of Addis Prime. He was raised by his nervous Uncle Moti, who moved them around a lot growing up. Uncle Moti tells him tales of an empire called Axum and war that spans the galaxy. Yared’s only friend is the bionic lioness Bessa gifted to him by his uncle when he was a small child. Despite his isolated life, Yared is a typical quick-witted kid, full of bravado.

Our story begins as Yared sneaks out of school to join The Hunt For Kaleb’s Obelisk. He learns that some of the rules have changed – not only is he required to enter his real name into the game to play, but he is also forced to partner up with his biggest rival in the game, a young girl called the Ibis. Suddenly, nothing goes according to plan, and instead of jumping to the top of the leaderboards, Yared and the Ibis find themselves in the middle of an attack on the city.

The stories Uncle Moti has been telling Yared for years seem to be coming to life, but as Yared starts putting puzzle pieces together, he realizes his Uncle has disappeared. Yared and the Ibis decide to work together to find Uncle Moti, and along the way, Yared learns that his life as he knows it may not be exactly what it seems.

I don’t want to give everything away, but I have to tell you: this book as fantastic. I can easily see this becoming a very successful series, and even having comics, cartoons, or movies. The characters are all very relatable and likable (for the most part anyway).

With nods to Prince Joel Makonnen’s childhood experiences growing up as the great-grandson of the last emperor of Ethiopia, His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I, readers will learn about Ethiopia’s rich history in unexpected ways. I specifically appreciated the afterword that sheds light on that history and points out all the ways it influenced the book.

Last Gate of the Emperor is available now wherever books are sold, including Bookshop and Amazon. (Please note: Some links provided are affiliate links. Affiliate links allow me to receive a small commission for recommendations at no cost to you. This commission is used to maintain this site and to continue bringing content to you. I always appreciate your support!)

Kwame Mbalia is a New York Times bestselling author who lives in North Carolina with his family. Please visit his website at kwamembalia.com to learn more about him and his work.

Prince Joel Makonnen is a direct descendant of Ethiopian royalty, Co-Founder and CEO of Old World // New World, and a lawyer based in Washington DC. To learn more about him, please visit his website at princeyoel.com.

Thank you so much to Scholastic Books for sending a review copy of Last Gate of the Emperor. I can’t wait to see if the adventure continues in a sequel!

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Allergic – A Coming Of Age Story of Friendship, Family, and Allergies

Some of you may not know this about me, but I am a sucker for a good graphic novel. Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter definitely fits the bill.

This sweet middle-grade graphic novel follows a young girl named Maggie, who finds herself the odd one out at home.

With her parents preparing for a new baby and her younger brothers off in their own twin world, Maggie can’t help but feel a bit left out. She believes a new puppy will be the answer to her problems, only to find she’s severely allergic to anything with fur.

Luckily, this is just the beginning of Maggie’s story. She sets out on a journey of self-discovery as she tries to find the perfect pet to be her companion. Maggie faces many trials familiar to real world fifth graders, like a new school, new friends, and a new sibling, making her story completely relatable to young readers. The illustrations by Michelle Mee Nutter are absolute perfection. They bring Maggie’s whole world to life, capturing all the emotions of her journey.

I absolutely loved Allergic. I read the entire book in one sitting, and I’m honestly thinking of rereading it right now because I enjoyed it so much. It’s one of those pure and wholesome stories that tugs at your heartstrings.

Allergic officially releases next week, but I would highly recommend you run (not walk) to preorder it today at Bookshop, Amazon, your local bookstore, or wherever you normally buy books. (Please note: Some links provided are affiliate links. Affiliate links allow me to receive a small commission for recommendations at no cost to you. This commission is used to maintain this site and continue bringing content to you. Your support is always appreciated!)

Megan Wagner Lloyd is a children’s book author based in Washington DC. To learn more about her and her other books, please visit her website at meganwagnerlloyd.com.

Michelle Mee Nutter is an illustrator and designer based in Boston, MA. To learn more about her and her work, please visit her website at michellemee.com.

Thank you so much to Graphix and Scholastic for providing me with a review copy of Allergic. This is my favorite graphic novel of the year so far, and I look forward to reading it again.

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