Today we are very excited to share an interview with Author Gale Galligan (FRESH START)!
Meet the Author: Gale Galligan
Gale Galligan is the creator of the New York Times bestselling Baby-sitters Club graphic novel adaptations of Dawn and the Impossible Three, Kristy’s Big Day, Boy-Crazy Stacey, and Logan Likes Mary Anne! by Ann M. Martin. They are also the creator of Freestyle, an original graphic novel that they both wrote and illustrated. When they aren’t making comics, Gale enjoys knitting, drumming, and spending time with their family and adorable pet rabbits in Pearl River, New York. Gale is a founding member of the Comics Advocacy Group, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that is dedicated to making careers in comics more accessible and sustainable. Visit them online at galesaur.com.
About the Book: Fresh Start
From New York Times bestselling author Gale Galligan comes a funny and vibrant semi-autobiographical middle-grade graphic novel about friendship and belonging.
Ollie Herisson’s dad is a diplomat, which means her family moves around a lot. She has already lived in Singapore, Korea, France, and the United States. When Ollie starts at a new school, she doesn’t worry about making a good impression because she knows that when her family inevitably moves again, she’ll get a fresh start somewhere else. A complete reset. It doesn’t matter if her classmates think she’s weird for pretending that she lives in the world of an imagined anime, or if she makes an enemy out of the most popular girl in her class, or if she just does something hugely embarrassing! And it definitely doesn’t matter that all her mom wants is for Ollie to be more of a proper Thai daughter.
But after moving from Germany to Virginia and having a mortifying first day at her new school, Ollie is shocked to learn that her parents are going to buy a house so that Ollie and her sister, Cat, can finish grade school in one place. Can Ollie figure out how to both be herself and make real friends when she can’t run away from her life?
~Author Chat~
YABC: What gave you the inspiration to write this book?
Fresh Start is a book inspired by my own experiences. Because of my dad’s job, my family lived overseas during my elementary school years. I was an awkward, self-conscious kid. I’d do goofy stuff, make huge mistakes, get into fights with friends, and then get really up in my head about it. Knowing that we were going to move again became a huge comfort for me. Like, yeah, my teacher just called me out in front of everyone, but I will be fleeing the country shortly.
Then we moved to the States, just in time for middle school – notoriously the least embarrassing part of any schooling journey – and I found out we would not be moving again. Extremely formative! I got a whole character arc!
I had been playing around with the idea of making an autobio graphic novel for a long time, but it wasn’t really clicking until Ollie showed up in another pitch I was working on. I realized that moving away from pure autobio and giving those experiences to her would let me hone in on the core ideas of the story I wanted to tell, rather than feeling bound by points on my lived timeline.
YABC: What type of scene do you love to write the most?
Oh no, this is so hard. There are two wolves inside me. I love the part where everything explodes all at once and people show how they really feel, especially when I get to go all ham with the big two-page spreads and dramatic closeups.
But at the same time – I am such a sucker for quiet moments. Like, you take two people having a thoughtful conversation, give them a panel where they’re just sitting side by side together, and then have one lean on the other’s shoulder just a little?
Both of these depend on successfully leading your reader to become invested in characters’ relationships over the course of a book, so I guess I’m really just excited about that emotional payoff!
YABC: What word do you have trouble overusing?
Probably “ooooh.” It’s so easy to slap in there. Character sees cool thing, character says “ooooh.” But I am drawing graphic novels and I could simply draw the character reacting to the cool thing with their face. My problem is that I, personally, am an ooooh-er.
YABC: How do you plan to celebrate the launch of your book?
Oh, my gosh, that’s in a few weeks. I’m going on tour! Ahhh!
It’s usually around a year between when I finish drawing a book and when it comes out. I am incredibly thrilled and scared about the thought of people actually, like, holding and reading Fresh Start after all this time. It’s such a personal story and I am so very delicate. So, wherever I find myself, I will probably be coping with big feelings by seeking out raw fish and/or baked goods.
YABC: What hobbies do you enjoy?
I’ve been taking drum lessons – it’s really challenging and fun! As an adult, it can be hard to say “I want to be bad at something” and just let yourself start from square one. I love that I’m learning how to see my favorite songs in a new way. Also, the part where I hit things is very cathartic.
YABC: What do you do when you procrastinate?
The other stuff on my to-do list. I am never more productive than when I am avoiding something.
YABC: What kind of animal would your main character be and why?
Bwahahaha, a hedgehog! Ollie gets a pet hedgehog in the book, and it is kind of a metaphor for her whole deal. Hedgehogs are prey animals, they’re defensive and will curl up and get all pokey if they feel threatened, buuuuuut they are also sweet and social if you give them time and show them that they can trust you. On the other side of those spikes are soft, fuzzy tummies.
YABC: What fandom would you write for if you had time?
I think a lot about Animorphs and how bittersweet and tragic and perfect that ending was. It doesn’t need anything else, it is exactly what it needs to be; buuuuuuuut I think it’d be fun to write a slice-of-life fanfic following Marco’s whole weird celebrity life in the early 2000s, before everything goes sideways. Something funny and just a little sad – the war is over, he survived and has everything he could possibly want, but there are those little missing pieces in his life that he can’t acknowledge.
If I can be honest with you, fanwork is something I’d really like to make more time for. It was a huge part of my creative development as a teen! Making and reading fanwork helped me to interpret characters, study storycraft, and connect with other people; I’d be a very different person without that experience.
So please look forward to my Marco masterpiece in 2026, haha.
YABC: What’s up next for you?
The Animorphs fanfic! We just talked about this!!
But seriously, I have a few graphic novels cooking that I cannot quite talk about yet. One of them is a joint effort with a creative partner, which is a first for me. It’s so much fun – I love having someone to throw ideas around with. Hopefully we’ll have more news to share soon. Please keep an eye out!
Thank you so much for having me!
Title: Fresh Start
Author: Gale Galligan
Release Date: January 7, 2025
Publisher: Graphix
Genre: Graphic Novel
Age Range: 8 -12
