Planet-Eating Space Whales And Sartorial Talking Chickens Fill Craig Thompsons 'Space Dumplins'
n the galaxy of graphic novels, Craig Thompson is a singular talent. His books don\u2019t just tell different stories: they take place in entirely different universes.
He burst onto the scene with the semi-autobiographical work about his move to Portland called \u201cGoodbye, Chunky Rice.\u201d Its delightfully quirky writing and cartoony style won him the Harvey Award for Best New Talent.
He followed up with the incredible autobiography \u201cBlankets,\u201d about growing up in a fundamentalist Christian family in Wisconsin. The 600-page tome was a game-changer, sweeping the comic awards and redefining the literary depths a graphic novel memoir could plumb.
Then Thompson completely changed gears with \u201cHabibi,\u201d an epic allegory set in a modern Arabian Nights fantasia.
Now, he just released \u201cSpace Dumplins\u201d on Scholastic Books. It\u2019s the zany adventure of a girl who has to save her family from giant planet-eating whales whose excrement has replaced oil as the universe\u2019s fuel. Did we mention there\u2019s a sartorial talking chicken named Elliot?
We reached Thompson in his home in Los Angeles, where he moved earlier this year. Our conversation spanned his blue-collar roots, the friends who inspired the characters in \u201cSpace Dumplins,\u201d and what attracted him to writing a children\u2019s book. Also, he reads his manifesto in the voice of the character Gar, the lumberjack father who harvests space whale, well, \u201cdumplings."