Artist K. Woodman-Maynard has a bold take on beloved ‘Tuck Everlasting’

ln a comic she drew before bedtime one night, K. Woodman-Maynard manifested a project that would occupy her for the next couple of years. The author and cartoonist, who lives in south Minneapolis with husband Mike Schowalter and a one-eyed Vizsla named Leif, writes a “diary comic” each night.

Creator of a graphic novel version of “The Great Gatsby” that came out in 2021, she craved a new project. So Woodman-Maynard, who grew up in Golden Valley, Minnesota, drew a portrait of herself in a Wonder Woman-like position, with arms akimbo. “Two days later, the call came,” said Woodman-Maynard, who also writes her own original comics and works as a comics coach, helping other artists create work and feel good about it.

A couple years, 1,400 hours of work and a pile of gorgeous watercolour paintings later, that call has resulted in “Natalie Babbitt’s “Tuck Everlasting”: The Graphic Novel.”

Celebrating the book’s 50th anniversary, it’s a fresh, inventively-illustrated look at the middle-grade book about a girl who meets a boy named Jesse and his family — who have achieved eternal life and aren’t sure that’s such a great thing. I met with Woodman-Maynard, 40, to discuss death, hope and whether her adaptations are abominable.

K Maynard-Woodman's studio workspace is photographed. Tribune News Service

Graphic novel adaptations of classics are hot right now. How did these two biggies come to you?

“Gatsby” is in the public domain and it was my idea. We pitched it and a publisher bought it. For “Tuck,” [Babbitt’s estate] approached me because of the “Gatsby” adaptation, thinking it would fit stylistically.

You were immediately interested?

I remembered having strong feelings about “Tuck Everlasting” when I read it as a kid and the feelings were, like, loving it but also betrayal and anger. So I ran over to my nearest book store, Moon Palace, and got the book and read it before we even started the process.

And?

I thought, “I love this.” I’m so well suited to this because nature is so important in it and I really love nature, but also the theme of mortality I was very interested in, both for myself and kid me.

You thought it could help you cope with death?

My uncles both recently died, in the last couple months, and I’ve been thinking so much about the line that says it’s a blessing to live through these cycles of life, it’s a blessing to be able to die, going through it all. The book does give me comfort and it helps me be more in the moment: Don’t think about future stages. You are in this stage right now. Enjoy it. [Her cat, who died recently, is depicted on page 51.]

Many readers will probably be introduced to these books by your versions of them. Do you think that’s OK?

I think it is. I love the originals, so I hope if people enjoy my graphic novels they’ll go back to the originals. There’s more depth there and it’s able to show things in different ways. I don’t see this as a replacement.

K Maynard-Woodman sits for a portrait in her home studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Tribune News Service

Did you have to make big changes for “Tuck Everlasting” to succeed as a graphic novel?

I was worried that sometimes people are precious about their or their family’s work and I wanted to make sure they were OK with — not huge changes, but some changes. Pretty quickly, it was clear they were fine with it. Lucy [author Babbitt’s daughter] had taught it in schools and knew kids have hard times with certain parts of it, especially the beginning, and she was fine with that. Getting to the story much faster was really the biggest change I made.

You had help with that?

I read it through with my 9-year-old niece, the prose version, to make sure I knew where a kid might get tripped up.

What were important visual elements?

I think showing the metaphor of the cycle of life, which is in the original book so much. Showing that visually was a huge pro of the graphic novel medium. I just used circles again and again. Jesse throws rocks and they make a circular pattern in the water, and there are pinwheels.

Are people ever outraged that you do this?

I don’t hear from them, generally, but I was tabling [setting up a table to sell books] at a “Gatsby” event. There was a six-hour reading for the 100th anniversary and this elderly, retired English teacher walked by, looked at my book and said, “That’s an abomination.” She did not realize I was the creator. We had a long discussion about why I don’t think it’s an abomination and how accessibility is important and I don’t regard it as a replacement. But she felt like it was just that kids aren’t reading prose books now and this is a cheating way to read.

What’s your take?

I grew up with learning disabilities and it was really hard for me to learn to read. I wish I had had comics. It wasn’t really a thing back then. Now, I like hearing from parents and teachers who say, “Oh, my kid really struggled with ‘The Great Gatsby’ and your book allowed them to understand it.” I believe in bringing stories forward, whatever the medium is.

In the afterword, you write about your learning disabilities. You’re a big reader now and you graduated magna cum laude from Harvard. Did reading eventually become pleasurable?

I was held back in kindergarten, which was super painful. It took years before I recovered my confidence, because I felt like I was stupid. And I had an older sister who was very precocious. I think what changed it is I’m a competitive person. I said, “I’m going to get good at this. I’m going to be the best.” So I read a lot of Nancy Drew books and mysteries and a lot of Sweet Valley Twins. I started to love the comfort and escape that brought and that they made me feel less alone. I was a pretty lonely kid. What I hope for with my books is that kids will feel seen, that their fears are not unfounded and that there is hope for them.

Associated Press