First Second Announces Science Comics, ‘The Prince and the Dressmaker’

We had two interesting announcements from First Second Books in the past few days.

First of all, Jen Wang’s The Prince and the Dressmaker was announced on the Diversity in YA Tumblr:

The Prince and the Dressmaker is about a young 19th Century prince named Sebastian who secretly loves to wear dresses. He hires an ambitious young seamstress named Frances to make dresses for him and as their collaboration grows, so do their feelings for one another. Sebastian and Frances must find a way to balance their inner desires with the strict expectations of the royal family – or risk exposing Sebastian’s secret to the world.

Check out the post for some really lovely art. Here’s what Wang has to say:

This book is really special to me because I basically wrote it for my teenage self, which is something I haven’t done before. I wanted a story that explored questions about gender and self-identity in a way that was also really colorful and fun and positive. The personal themes are there, but also lots of dresses and princesses. The idea was to create my ideal Disney movie, and writing this has genuinely been one of the most fun, liberating, experiences I’ve had making comics. My awkward confused fourteen year-old self would’ve really connected with this book and I hope it does the same for other young readers.

The book will be out in 2017.

The second announcement isn’t a single book, it’s a series titled Science Comics, a series of middle-grade graphic novels:

The Science Comics books will be narrow-focus, single-topic 128 page narrative nonfiction graphic novels, and a new volume will be published each season. The series will be written and drawn by some of the finest graphic novelists in the industry, and feature introductions by leading experts. Each book will cover topics from the fields of biology, chemistry, and physics, subjects that are part of the classroom curriculum and can be easily worked into lesson plans.

The first three books are Dinosaurs, by MK Reed and Joe Flood, Coral Reefs, by Maris Wicks, and Volcanos, by Jon Chad. The first two are due out in spring of next year, the third in the fall.

Filed under: Graphic Novels