Today we’re thrilled to reveal the cover for Mission One: The Vice Principal Problem, the first installment in the Blue Stars series by Kekla Magoon and Cynthia Leitich Smith, illustrated by Molly Murakami! The book was designed by Lisa Rudden, edited by Andrea Tompa, and will be released on March 5, 2024 by Candlewick Press. Preorder it here, here, here, here, here, here, or here.

Keep scrolling for an exclusive Q&A with the authors!

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Where did the idea for this book come from?

KEKLA: Cynthia and I were colleagues for years before we became close friends, and as soon as we spent more time together, we totally clicked!

When I visited her in Austin, we had so much fun exploring and adventuring that we felt like kids again. We’d race to her little blue car shouting, “To the Bluebird!” at the top of our lungs, as though it was our superhero mobile.

We started to imagine: what if we had known each other in sixth grade, when we both could have used a cool and quirky best friend? What if we had been middle school superheroes with a Bluebird that flew?

CYNTHIA: I picked up the custom of naming cars from my grandparents, but oddly enough, it wasn’t until The Bluebird that I fully embraced it. My love of superheroes sprang in part from my relationship with my dad. He worked six days a week, and so on Sundays, he’d often take me on a quick run to the local convenience mart to pick up comic books.

I learned to read from them as well as from picture books, in both cases no doubt helped by the visual cues. My favorites included Spider-Man, who is usually depicted on the young side—a teen or early twenty-something.

KEKLA: Cynthia brought so much comics expertise to the project. (Meanwhile, I brought memories of middle grade awkwardness.) We have different creative strengths that complement each other, and the enthusiastic, open-minded teamwork we share was part of the inspiration for our characters’ (Maya and Riley’s) cousin relationship.

What do you hope readers take away from it?

CYNTHIA: It’s a series, and the stories all include family and friendship dynamics alongside the bigger, bolder missions. I love the interwoven humor, innovation, and heart. That said, the main takeaway is that, working together in family and community, we can raise up and safeguard our communities.

KEKLA: We want readers to have fun with the characters first and foremost, but also definitely to walk away feeling empowered by the knowledge that creating change is possible when you band together with those who share your convictions.

Maya and Riley stand up against a villainous school administrator—someone with a lot of power over them. Grandma Gayle always tells our girls, “Be the stars you are!” And we hope our readers will get that message, too.

What was involved in the world-building process?

KEKLA: There were layers to it. We first had to build the world of our girls—they’re cousins from a Black and Indigenous family—and then expand to establish the culture of their school, community, and eventually the entire city of Urbanopolis. We sketched maps of their bedroom, house, and neighborhood.

It was a bit like drawing concentric circles, getting wider and wider as we grew to understand our characters and what the world around them required. The maps went into our Blue Stars Dossier (sometimes called a series “bible”), which also contains a list of characters and other details we need to track for continuity.

CYNTHIA: I bow to the awesomeness of Kekla’s dossier-creation skills!

Beyond that, Urbanopolis is very loosely inspired by Chicago, so it has a midwestern feel as well as low-key fantastical, slightly futuristic feel.

Meanwhile, there are precious few Black or Indigenous superheroes in popular culture, and fewer still who’re teens (e.g., Miles Morales/Spider-Man, Danielle Moonstar/Psyche), let alone tweens. We’re thoughtfully crafting diverse superheroes for middle grade/middle school, and we take that opportunity and responsibility to heart.

What was your collaboration process like?

KEKLA: So much fun! Writing is usually such a solitary practice, and it was a joy to share it for a change. We met in person as often as we could to brainstorm, take notes, bat around ideas, and draft scenes in conversation with each other. There was a lot of laughter, and a lot of “Ooh, ooh! What if…” exclamations.

We never felt stuck (which is rare in writing) because if one of us ran out of ideas, the other would have some and we’d keep going. It was like a tennis match where we were both trying to help each other win.

CYNTHIA: Beyond the writing-craft, it’s a lot like playing “pretend” on the page. There’s so much of Kekla in Maya and me in Riley. We shaped much of the dialogue through our natural banter.

Meanwhile, Molly’s art style is phenomenal. We would spend hours poring over and celebrating each image, noticing the various storytelling details and her own character-and-worldbuilding touches. We were truly blessed that she said “yes” to such an ambitious series.

KEKLA: Yes, Molly is tremendous. Maya and Riley truly came alive in her hands. They’re bursting off the page and we can’t wait for readers to meet them!

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Kekla Magoon is the renowned author of numerous fiction and nonfiction titles for young readers, including Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People; X: A Novel, cowritten with Ilyasah Shabazz; How It Went Down; and The Season of Styx Malone. She has received the Margaret A. Edwards Award, the John Steptoe New Talent Award, an NAACP Image Award, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, a Michael L. Printz Honor, and four Coretta Scott King Honors, among other accolades. Kekla Magoon lives in Montpelier, Vermont, and teaches at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Cynthia Leitich Smith is an NSK Neustadt Laureate and acclaimed author of Hearts Unbroken, winner of the American Indian Youth Literature Award; Harvest House; Sisters of the Neversea; the New York Times best-selling Tantalize and Feral series; Rain Is Not My Indian Name; and Jingle Dancer, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu. She also edited the anthology Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids and is the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused children’s-YA imprint. A Muscogee Nation citizen, Cynthia Leitich Smith lives in Austin, Texas, and served as the inaugural Katherine Paterson Chair at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Molly Murakami is a cartoonist, illustrator, writer, and creator of several webcomics. The Blue Stars Series: Mission One: The Vice Principal Problem is her publishing debut. She lives in Minnesota.