This interview originally appeared in the September/October 2025 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Publishers’ Previews: Fall 2025, an advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a chance to each highlight a book from its current list. They choose the books; we ask the questions.

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In the graphic novel Daybreaker, Mika is still mourning the death of her guardian/grandmother when summer school becomes…eventful.

1. Is there someone who has passed away who continues to be there for you?

My lola (the inspiration for Mika’s lola) passed away just as I was beginning to make comics. She used to tell stories about the past, warn us about which superstitions were really true, and cook hearty meals. We badly miss her cooking, I still whistle to ­summon the wind on a hot day, and she continues to inspire the stories I tell.

2. What was your role in your middle-school friend group?

Daybreaker’s main characters all have a bit of me in them. I was always doodling like Mika, I followed rules like Teo, and I was a loud, competitive kid like Halle. What I’d like to believe left an impression was how I loved entertaining my friends with outrageous stories.

3. In the U.S., there is increasing overlap between the ­comics and children’s books communities. How about in the Philippines?

Today, we have a vibrant, diverse komiks community in the Philippines, but there’s still a lot of shelf space open for children’s comics specifically. I’m part of an ­organization of children’s book illustrators, and while most of our members’ focus is picture books and chapter books, a growing number have become active in the komiks space.

4. Drawing or writing, which comes easier?

I can’t do one without thinking of the other. When I write, I can clearly visualize what I want my characters and their adventures to look like; and when I’m illustrating, so many possibilities come to me: who is this character? What’s their backstory?

5. Do you find summer to be “the most magical time of the year?”

Summer is the time to explore outside your routine. It’s when I got to experience the magic of the country: I visited relatives’ flower-covered ancestral houses in the ­province, went stargazing on a remote island, took a boat ride down a river with firefly-lit mangrove banks, jumped down waterfalls and swam with whale sharks, and watched enchanting sunrises and sunsets on fine powder beaches.

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