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BY GRETA SIMONE Greta Simone is an actual kid reading comic books! Sporadically she's going to do a mini interview with a comic creator and review of his/her project. Up today is a quick chat with Little White Mouse creator, Paul Sizer.
THE PULSE: What gave you the idea to write a book about a girl who is stranded in space?
PAUL SIZER: Loo in my book was partially inspired by a female Malaysian exchange college student named Lay Hua who I knew at Western Michigan University. She was very much like Loo; very small, kind of a tomboy, and very smart. She was friends with everyone, but would also tell someone who was being rude to shut up, whether she knew them or not.
I was impressed by the way Lay Hua made friends and fit in with people, despite the fact that she was about as far away from her home and family as you could be on the globe. She was removed from all the family and friends she had known he whole life, and tossed into the very different and weird experience of American college life, and she still made her way and maintained her identity. I was so impressed with her attitude, I decided to take her situation and project it into a science fiction setting; expanding being a world away from your family to being 3.25 light years away everything you knew. I worked with Lay Hua to get some cultural references and ideas about how Malaysian life worked, so I could inject that into the story and be authentic.
It's kind of like the question "If you could live someplace where you could do anything you wanted to, what WOULD you do?" Lay Hua had that chance at Western Michigan Univerity, and in a different way, so did Loo on Satellite 713. That was the genesis for the story of LITTLE WHITE MOUSE.
THE PULSE: When were you first interested in reading/writing comics?
SIZER: I was drawing and reading comics when I was five years old, and I haven't stopped since then. The first comics I read were PEANUTS, and I would draw my own versions of those strips, except I would have Charlie Brown fighting with Snoopy and Lucy and Linus, and even setting Snoopy's doghouse on fire. Finally, my mom said to me "Stop blowing up other people's characters and blow up your OWN people in your comic strips!" So I did, and I've been doing my own characters since then, getting them in school newspapers, book reports, wherever I could get them printed. I think most comic artists have been doing their art since they were little, and truthfully, you need to have that kind of dedication to keep doing this as a career. I'm very lucky that my career lets me do something I've loved since I was a little guy.
THE PULSE: How did you come up with the name "Little White Mouse" (for the character's nickname, not the title)?
SIZER: In the story, Loo's "little white mouse" nickname was given to her be her grandfather, who called Loo his "little white mouse" and her sister P'Heng his "little black mouse".
The irony now is that Loo's life on the satellite is much like a little mouse; she has to scrap and steal little morsels to survive, and she's seen as a pest by the satellite's computers, enough so that it sends out the Cyberdog units like a cat to catch the "mouse".
In real life, Lay Hua worked in the same classroom as I taught in, and would hide food (candy bars, cookies, ramen noodles) around the office so she wouldn't have to go to her apartment for meals if she was busy. I would find her stashed food and tell her she was a packrat, which she didn't quite understand, so I said she was like a mouse in how she hid food for later.
The nickname stuck, and became the book title.
*****
Review of Little White Mouse by Paul Sizer BY GRETA SIMONE
Little White Mouse is about 16-year old adventurous Loo and intelligent and quiet P’heng who go out to space on a journey to their new school. The ship crashes leaving Loo as the only surviver. Though devastated by her sister’s death, Loo tries to manage living on the ship with her only companions being robots named Boris and Dieter and a handsome ghost named Pascal who she discovers living in his own quarters. This thrilling story shows the reader Loo’s many adventures in space as a year passes while she strives to stay strong. The plot is so unique and the art and writing is so extraordinary that you won’t be able to put down the book (so stock up on potato chips before reading it). Little White Mouse is funny, sad, and action-packed so whatever your favorite genre is, this book has it all.
You can learn more about Paul Sizer at his official website: www.paulsizer.com
Greta first got into comics when her brother gave her Maus for Christmas at the age of nine. Ever since then, she has been reading and enjoying comics, and even creating some of her own! She is twelve years old and has her own comic review site here and her own site of her comics. She has just recently started writing for THE PULSE and hopes to write many more reviews.
Posts: 20777 | From: PA | Registered: Aug 2002
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In the Peanuts strip, Snoopy's doghouse did burn down one time, and Lucy said that she thought that the beagle was smoking in bed.
Posts: 3415 | From: San Bruno | Registered: Aug 2002
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Actually, I drew stuff like that because I knew how to draw the PEANUTS characters, but REALLY wanted to do super-hero stories instead. And I liked to draw things blowing up.
Thanks for the nice interview and review, Greta. You rock!
-------------------- PAUL SIZER Creator, Writer and Artist: LITTLE WHITE MOUSE, MOPED ARMY Cafe Digital Comics www.paulsizer.com Posts: 45 | From: Kalamazoo, Michigan | Registered: Nov 2001
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