I am so thrilled that art from Passport has been selected into the Society of Illustrators 65th exhibition and book. I am genuinely floored by this honor and beyond pleased that Passport will be featured in this show. Huge thank yous to @soi128, the judges, and my editor @susanrichreads at @littlebrownyoungreaders. The Book & Editorial exhibit will be up from February 15th to March 18th. #illustrators65 #passport #comicart #illustration #societyofillustrators #soi65 #bookart #lbyr #rootliterary (at Society Of Illustrators) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClpAsJgP3_c/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

MY BOOK HAS A TRAILER! Just in time for Passport’s 1st Anniversary. It's been a wonderful year sharing my memoir and my experience with readers, writers, third culture kids, expats, travelers, and everyone who has read and connected with my story. If you want to give my book a birthday gift consider sharing your reading experience and review online if you haven’t already. Honestly it is the greatest gift you can give any author or book, especially debut books, and so if there is a book you have read and loved recently go to Amazon or Goodreads or wherever people talk about books and share. It will make their holidays very bright. And thank you to everyone who has read, rated, reviewed, reached out, and made this book a reality. 

A piece I co-wrote with my hilarious second brain @juliawhair is up now @newyorkermag To read the whole thing clink the link in bio. I make no secret about how integral my sister is to my writing process, but this is the first time we’ve published together and it feels awesome. If we weren’t sisters we might even be mom friends to each other, instead of just mom friends plural. Thank you @emmaewallen and @stolincokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #momfriends #newyorkercartoons #dailyshouts #cartoons #cartooning #funny #parenting #parentingmemes #comics #funnymoms https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck89NEFvDnW/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

So after a far bit of not going anywhere all of a sudden I felt like I was everywhere for Passport. The book came out during a sort of weird time, so I was lucky enough to be celebrating it’s existence in the world here there and everywhere for what felt like most of September. Here is the photodump to prove it: 1. This is what happens when you try to fit two families of four in a New York apartment. Thank you @juliawhair 2. This is what is looks like when you FINALLY meet your extraordinary agent @mollyoneillbooks (whithout whom you would be nada) in person. 💗💕💗 3. This is what it looks like when your kids hold hands and bravely forge through a crowded subway platform on their first visit to Penn Station. 4. This is what the first ever reading of Passport looks like at the very awesome @new_dominion_bookshop 5. This is what it looks like when to your suprise and delight @joshmbayer is your table mate @spxcomics 6. This is what it looks like when you are high on adrenaline and decide to wear a crop top at SPX 22. 7. This is what it looks like when you finish a panel with @fffungirl @katrionachapman and @tommi_pg and are exhilarated by the experience. 8. This is what it looks like as you try not to swear in front of the child in the front row of said panel (ps I failed. Sorry, Erica!) 9. This is what it looks like when you’ve completed 2/3 high school visits for @hs_bookfest and are pretty sure the next one will go OK too. 10. This is what the world’s best host @curlcan looks like. Her name is Carolyn and she gave me a #bumpycake with candles in it for my birthday. I’m 39 btw and it rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #comics #passport #graphicnovels #graphicmemoir #memoir #debutgraphicnovel #comix #spx #spx22 #hsfotb2022 #harborspringsmichigan #ya #yalit #booktok #booksofinstagram #cia #secrets #comicart #yaliterature #comicbooks #book #bookfestival #lbyr #graphicnovelist (at Manhattan, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CjI2kxQLSgN/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Here is my #spx2022 haul, plus some Local Cville talent. I had to restrain myself bc I was flying back to Texas and not in the mood to pay for a bag overage but this is as far as I got before I cut myself off. I also have a long list of books I now have to order which I’m sure I will aggressively post about in the coming weeks. Feeling lucky to have so many beautiful books to choose from as I prep to go on ANOTHER book trip this time to Harbor Springs, Michigan for @hs_bookfest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #comics #comicsfest #spx #spx22 #comicbooks #indiecomics #selfpublished #graphicnovels (at Austin, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CivX5LjPNPg/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

For the first time in 4 years I’ll be back at SPX. I know this is the first time back for a lot of folks, but oh man it is hard not to take stock of what a difference four years makes. In 2018 Passport was still *just* a mini comic that I was hoping would be taken seriously. This year, not only does it actually exist, but I get to talk about it on a panel with @katrionachapman @tommi_pg and @fffungirl. Come find me at table E13A and pick up a copy, or get yours signed or we can just beam at each other through our masks and glory in the bounty that is comics and @spxcomics 😘✌️✈️💕 . . . . . . . . . . #comics #comix #graphicnovels #yagraphicnovels #ya #spx #spxcomics #spx2022 #passport #comicbokks #comicart (at Washington D.C.) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cif5vl-vOyq/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

I’ve gone from lying to my closest friends about my history to being thrilled (and a little nerve wracked) to see my story VERY out there, not just in my book Passport, but today in the @nytkids section. It’s print only so if you get the paper look for my story as told to Elise Craig and illustrated by @sloppyjohansson. It’s a fun and clever feature and I am so happy to have been a part of this perfectly themed issue. 🤫 . . . . . . . . . . . . . #passport #autobio #autobiocomics #comics #nytkids #newyorktimes #nytimes #illo #comix #secrets #memoir #memoircomics #cia (at Austin, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbnm-ftPcjg/?utm_medium=tumblr

Passport has been out for a couple of weeks now and these have been some of the most exciting, overwhelming, and, ultimately, satisfying weeks of my creative life. I had a lot of fear leading up to The On Sale, but on the other side of it I find myself staggered by the enthusiastic responses I have gotten from so many friends and bookstagrammers and reviewers and bloggers and even people from my past. It would seem that it connected in the ways I hoped it would, and I find myself simply bowled over, not only by the fact that so many of you acquired it, but that you “got it” too. So, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has bought it, read it, and sent me feedback. I have been touched every day for weeks by seeing Passport out in the world and on your bookshelves. If you did read it and love it feel free to say so on Amazon or Goodreads. It would mean a lot to me and it really helps the book’s profile. Especially since there is currently a 1-star review on Amazon dragging down the rating because a parent was unhappy that the book acknowledges the existence of sex, assault, under-age drinking, suicide etc. Spoiler Alert: It’s all true. The book doesn’t shy away from what, for me, were realities in my adolescence, and what I suspect will be realities for many adolescents for all of time. And if you order it now you’ll still get it in time for any gift giving holidays which might be coming up. I recommend it for any third culture kids, interculture people, second-generation immigrants, anyone who’s been thrown into the deep end, and anyone who has hungered for a home they have yet to create. You can get it (and even rate it!) at Amazon, B&N.com, or maybe best of all, your local comic book shop or local indie bookstore including @BookPeople right here in Austin (they’ll even send you a signed copy if you like *link in bio*). “A deceptively spare graphic novel chock-full of depth and beauty, Passport is an unusual coming-of-age memoir that's totally worth the trip.” —@BookPage “Any chance I could buy books directly from you at a better price?” —My Mother . . . . #passport #graphicmemoir #graphicnovel #comics #cia #bookstagram #books (at Austin, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CXmJRZGOb04/?utm_medium=tumblr

I interrupt my current stream of Passport Book News to post this Bagel Cartoon. It’s my umpteenth bagel pun, but only my second Notorious B.I.G. pun. It’s also a joke that I made on the phone with @juliawhair because I can’t do it without her. When I made this joke I giggled so hard that I refused to google whether there are already 1000 Big Poppy gags out there bc there must be, but I don’t wanna know. I just wanna draw bagels. And man, it has been a minute since I had a good bagel. 🥯 . . . . . . . . . . . . . #bagel #bagelpunpun #cartoonoftheday #drawingoftheday #thisishowiprocrastinate #penandink #watercolor #watercolour #poppyseed #🥯 (at Austin, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CXPQLaTrccY/?utm_medium=tumblr

Today is the day. Passport is on sale. It’s officially arrived on bookshelves and devices. I wish I had the right words for how I feel about the book, and all its stories and secrets, being out in the world. I hope that readers who know what it is to be hungry for a home you have yet to create see themselves in it. And would you check out that spot gloss? The production manager in me in swooning. Oh, wait, the author in me is too.

Happy Book Birthday to Passport. 🥳

Oh and there is still time to order a signed copy via @bookpeopleaustin

https://www.bookpeople.com/signed-personalized-copies-passport

Well, would you? The two questions I get the most are, “where is the BEST place to buy your book?” and “how can I get a signed copy?” There are many wonderful places to buy my book but @bookpeople is the BEST bookstore in Austin and they are THE place to get SIGNED and PERSONALIZED copies of Passport. Click the link in bio for more details! And a HUGE thank you to all who have already pre-ordered Passport. Pre-orders do mean a lot in this business and there is still one week left! 💗📚✈️ . . . . . . . . #passport #comics #comicbooks #graphicnovels #cia #illo #lbyr #bookpeople #bookstagram #signedcopies #yamemoir #yagraphicnovel #comicbooks #books #book #booktok #memoir #nonfictioncomics (at Austin, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWoDYWbrOin/?utm_medium=tumblr

Update! ✈️ Passport was due to arrive in bookstores and mailboxes on 11/2, but due to global supply chain delays it has a new on sale date of 11/30. I almost drew a little cartoon of Passport sitting on a cargo ship at the Port of LA, but my book is not alone! So many books are delayed this season, but they’re coming soon! Thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered Passport. It means SO MUCH to me and the book, especially in weird times like this. You can still place pre-orders, wherever books are sold, or at your local independent bookstore! 📚📖📚And I recommend you get your holiday book shopping done early this year! . . . . . . . . #supplychain #books #globalsupplychain #passport #lbyr #rootliterary #lbyr #comics #comicbokks #yalit #cia #memoir #graphicmemoir #cartoon #book #📚 #preorder #funnycartoons (at Austin, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVoHADOLXUL/?utm_medium=tumblr

@clough.robert interviewed me for SOLRAD (@fieldmousepress). I don’t want to gush too much but I have been looking forward to getting a copy of Passport into Rob’s hands for a long time so I am thrilled. Not only is Rob the most insightful indie comics reviewer in the business, but he might be one of the few people who has read just about everything I have published. His long view of indie publishing and the comics industry as a whole is a true asset to the community. Thank you Rob! (Link in Bio) And I should warn @davidheatley @about_dunja_jankovic @gary.panter and @joshmbayer that they are all mentioned in this interview. Hope you don’t mind. And I hope @juliawhair doesn’t mind that I am posting this picture, taken around the time that #Passport takes place. Sistars forever. 💫 Passport is available for pre-order NOW but will be available whereever books are sold 11/2/21. 🛫✈️❤️🌈 . . . . . . . . . . . . . #passport #lbyr #book #debutbook #debutgraphicnovel #graphicnovel #graphicmemoir #graphicnovelmemoir #comic #comix #comicbook #cia #secrets #sisters #bookstagram #booktalk #yagraphicnovels #yabookstagram #yabooks (at Austin, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CT2TnHVLMRr/?utm_medium=tumblr

✈️PASSPORT IS COMING! ✈️ ETA: 11/2/2021 I got my F&Gs and the printing is so beautiful that it was difficult to choose which panels to share. . . . . . . . . . . . . #passport #passports #graphicmemoir #gntk #graphicnovel #comics #bookstagram #bookdebut #comicbooks #yabookstagram #ya #cia #secrets #familymemoir #memoir #debutauthor #lbyr #littlebrown #book #yamemoir #yanonfiction #illustration #illo (at Austin, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTnZeEnLrXs/?utm_medium=tumblr

So I did it. All year, every time someone asked “so how’s the book going?” it felt like a little knife in my brain. “It’s going! <forced laugh>!” is all I could say. But I spent this year genuinely wondering if I could finish Passport, or if I would flail and fail spectacularly. But I did do it. Here is just a big pile of original art ... and the three stages of analog work: thumbs, pencils, “inks” (black colored pencil really). Not pictured the endless hours of editing scans, coloring and processing digital files. And I’m so excited to hold my book and to share it with everyone. Out Fall 2021 from Little Brown Young Readers. (at San Francisco, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CI1i7j1D96E/?igshid=booxbs0jpdxe

A cartoon of mine is in this week’s @newyorkermag . . . #cartooning #cartoon #penandink #nyercartoons #goldfish (at Bernal Heights, San Francisco) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx-MZ2_gI_c/?igshid=1rhte63vj6vtz