Creating diverse stories that make young people feel seen and valued inspires Weaver, whose debut, Weirdo (First Second), is an Eisner-nominated graphic memoir illustrated by Jes and Cin Wibowo, which was named one of PW’s best books of 2024. Weaver also runs Weird Enough Productions, a community-outreach organization whose mission includes improving reading skills among marginalized children.
In a recent interview with Today, you said you feel a responsibility to help kids navigate their darkest moments and that, since stories saved your life, you want your stories to help others in the same way. Can you explain this goal?
I think it is a part of how I was raised. It has always been important to me to try to make places better. It’s something I think about on a micro and macro level: What can I do to help someone else’s problems feel less heavy? I feel as though that’s when I’m at my happiest, and when I’m most walking in my purpose.
How did writing Weirdo help you with that mission?
In the year since the book appeared on the shelf, I have had the privilege to visit more than 60 schools across the country, and it has been great to see the book positively impact kids across different communities and backgrounds. It’s proving to be a
universal story, and that was my goal.
How do those school visits help shape your writing for young readers?
They give me an opportunity to be on the ground and to hear directly from teachers and kids, who are very open with their opinions and their questions. These conversations—100%—help me to learn about what kids are navigating and help me to meet a need and support students through my writing. Being around teachers and young readers helps me to figure out how to add value to kids’ lives with the things I do and say and write. For children’s writers, this is a direct responsibility, because kids are leaning on our words as they develop a sense of identity. And I welcome that challenge.
You have a sequel to Weirdo in the works. How does it differ from your memoir, and what else is on your creative agenda?
First Second will publish the follow-up to Weirdo in spring 2027. It doesn’t have a final title yet, and the illustrator is still under wraps. While Weirdo is intensely autobiographical, in the sequel I felt more freedom to include fiction in the context of the story, and I had fun with that.
The first book in The Dream Frontier, my YA graphic novel series, is in the process of being illustrated by Irene Yeom, and will be published in fall 2027. I’m excited about its rollout since it’s very different from Weirdo and rounds out my slate somewhat. After that I have multiple books scheduled to come out through 2032.
And I am also excited about Nerds for Literacy, the initiative that I recently launched to put 10,000 free books into the hands of kids in underfunded schools and libraries. We raised more than $100,000 in the campaign’s first four weeks, and I am very proud of that.
