Random House Graphic’s debut year is still going strong with their third release, the middle-grade fantasy adventure Aster and the Accidental Magic!

Aster hates the small town to which her family has moved for her mother’s work and is jealous when her brother is able to return to the city for school. With nothing else to do, Aster wanders into the wilderness surrounding the town and finds more than she expected. Rather than quiet nature, she encounters a mysterious old woman with a herd of dogs, a trickster spirit, a magical fox, and many others.

Mystery and mayhem await Aster and readers in this absolutely delightful graphic novel.

Aster’s creators, Thom Pico and Karensac were kind enough to sit down with the Roarbots and tell us more about Aster, her world, and bringing both to life.

The Roarbots: What are some of the challenges of working in translation? (Ed: Aster and the Accidental Magic was originally published in French.) What aspects of translation do you have to pay special attention to when working on children’s books?

Thom Pico: Translation was a really interesting process. Karensac and I were able to really invest ourselves here, since we read English fluently. 

Karensac: We wanted to make sure to keep the tone of the original albums. Thom makes a lot of puns that are sometimes difficult to translate, but the translators did a great job!

TP: The trickiest part was adapting the names correctly. All the character names have a meaning, sometimes more or less well thought out, and it was sometimes difficult to find a way to keep the meaning. In French, Aster is called Aubépine, which is both a proper name and a flower. This isn’t really important to the story, but we wanted to keep this meaning between the versions. Gina Gagliano, the editor who acquired the project at Random House Graphic, was a great help with that and we owe several names to her.

RB: Tell us a little bit about why you gave Aster’s parents the roles and personalities you did. Books where the trusted adult participates in the adventure are few and far between, but Aster’s father, for example, plays a role in the book.

K: When I first started the story – before Thom joined me on the project – I already knew I wanted to put Aster’s mother in the spotlight, making her the reason why the family had moved. It was important that the mother figure is the central force in the family.

TP: That’s why a key part of her character is her dedication to her job. She isn’t an absent parent, but she has a lot of other heavy responsibilities. It was also fun to make her talk in a convoluted way. There are lots of people who express themselves without differentiating between the vocabulary of a regular conversation and their professional jargon.

K: As for the father, he behaves much more normally, and that includes some selfishness. After all, he’s kicking Aster out of the house so he can use the internet!

TP: I almost had qualms about writing Aster’s father like that. I was a bit afraid that my own father would recognize himself a little too much.

K: In the following stories, we decided to put Aster’s family more in the spotlight. That’s why the father becomes a hostage of the Chestnuts Knights and why his loneliness is highlighted at the beginning of the adventure.

TP: The idea was not to let Aster have her adventures in secret but to see her family evolve together. Moving to the mountains changed Aster’s family dynamic. With the arrival of magic in her life, it was interesting to see how she integrated her parents and brother into her new daily life. It’s both a personal evolution and a motivation for Aster to get closer to them.

K: From now on, Aster will have her adventures without having to hide the truth from her father.

TP: For better or for worse.

RB: Aster’s parents believe it’s better for them to hide the truth about their move from her for a time. What’s the lesson for parents who might be reading the book with their children?

K: Children can be trusted; they’re capable of understanding so many things.

TP: That’s true. That’s one of the things that is particularly dear to our hearts. We must never underestimate the intelligence of kids. And though it can sometimes be difficult, being honest with them is always important. 

K: When Aster’s parents try to hide the truth from her, it’s for their own convenience. They just put off the inevitable because they know it’s not going to be an easy conversation.

TP: Neither Karensac nor I are parents, so we’re not in a position to give lessons to someone about how to raise their child. With that being said, as children, we’ve all experienced discovering a secret that was hidden from us because someone thought we weren’t mature enough to know. It’s this feeling of betrayal that we wanted to portray. In the end, the idea isn’t to teach a lesson but to remind parents reading the story of this feeling.

RB: At one point, Aster’s dog, Buzz, tells her, “Dogs prefer to show our feelings rather than talking about them.” Why is this important for Aster – and for readers – to hear?

TP: The idea here was to make Buzz Aster’s trusted companion by taking the opposite side of most talking dogs, who usually end up being a bit silly at best. Buzz is young, but he already has a whole philosophy of life.

K: He’s Aster’s best friend and is also a bit of a Jiminy Cricket to Aster.

TP: Showing her love rather than saying it will also help Aster make peace with her parents and accept that things can’t always go how she wants.

K: And it’s a way of saying something important: there’s no point in saying that you love people if your actions don’t show it.

RB: Talk a little about the progression from traditional fairy tale to a story in which the whole concept is turned upside down and Aster makes her own world and destiny.

K: When I first imagined the story, I had W.W. Jacobs’s The Monkey’s Paw in mind, and all the other wish stories that go wrong. This trope is something I think is really fun to explore, and I thought it would be interesting to see our little heroine dealing with.

TP: Then we looked for ways to spice up this classic starting point to give a real personality to Aster’s adventure. Stories about three wishes are interesting because they’re centered around what you want and your responsibility. Through her adventure, Aster learns to trust others but also that you can’t always control the ups and downs of life. At the end of the story, she gets a clean slate and takes the opportunity to approach the world around her with a fresh look.

RB: What are your favorite fairy tales?

K: I think it’s the The Little Mermaid – because as a kid I watched too much of the Disney version!

TP: Overall, I’m not too fond of fairy tales. But I really like it when the classics are reimagined to bring something new, like in Bill Willingham’s Fables.

RB: What’s next for you?

TP: There’s another Aster graphic novel due to be released next year by Random House Graphic: Aster and the Mixed-Up Magic.

K: And then we’re preparing Aster’s next adventures, as well as a series with a little witch who travels the world with her sister, who has been transformed into a goat.

RB: What’s next for Aster?

K: There are two more seasons to go!

TP: She’ll be facing new magical creatures and new problems. 

K: She’s clearly not done with snags! 

Aster and the Accidental Magic, by Thom Pico and Karensac (Random House Graphic), is available now.