Cover Reveal: ‘Allergic’ by Megan Wagner Lloyd & Michelle Mee Nutter

We are thrilled to be releasing the cover for Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter, which is a coming-of-age middle-grade graphic novel featuring a girl with severe allergies who just wants to find the perfect pet! Releasing on March 2nd 2021 from Scholastic, we reveal the cover below as well as both Megan and Michelle answer a few questions!

SYNOPSIS
At home, Maggie is the odd one out. Her parents are preoccupied with the new baby they’re expecting, and her younger brothers are twins and always in their own world. Maggie thinks a new puppy is the answer, but when she goes to select one on her birthday, she breaks out in hives and rashes. She’s severely allergic to anything with fur!

Can Maggie outsmart her allergies and find the perfect pet? With illustrations by Michelle Mee Nutter, Megan Wagner Lloyd draws on her own experiences with allergies to tell a heartfelt story of family, friendship, and finding a place to belong.

What inspired you to write/illustrate ALLERGIC? 

Megan: Maggie, the main character of ALLERGIC, is an animal-obsessed kid who’s about to get her very first puppy, only to discover that she’s allergic to animals. And just like Maggie, I’m allergic to all animals with fur or feathers, and I have been since I was young. Growing up, I felt really jealous of kids who could have pets like dogs or cats or guinea pigs. . . and I also felt just plain weird. How could I be allergic to something that brought other people so much joy?

I’d always thought of my allergies as something pretty negative about myself. But when I began visiting schools as an author, I would often share my animal allergy as a random, get-to-know-me fact, and I started noticing that kids found the whole idea quite fascinating. After all, longing for a pet is a pretty universal childhood experience. And, with allergies on the rise, many kids can relate to dealing with allergies on a daily basis.

With all of this brewing in the background, I started writing—and Maggie’s story was born. Instead of writing about myself, I chose to make ALLERGIC a fictional story, because I wanted to write about the emotional truths and challenges of allergies and adolescence in the most interesting and deeply-felt ways I could imagine. And then, once Michelle and I teamed up, she brought her own vision to the story, making it better anything I could have dreamed up on my own.

Michelle: ALLERGIC is such a heartwarming story with a wonderful cast of characters and when I first read the manuscript I knew I had to work with Megan. Even though I don’t have allergies like our main character Maggie does, my connection was rooted in the way she finds herself. I was instantly inspired by all of Maggie’s emotions as she’s fighting through these major changes and coming out the other side much stronger. Megan does an amazing job balancing out the heavier moments with truly hilarious adventures and my mind was immediately buzzing with ideas as I read it.

Why is ALLERGIC such an important book for middle-grade readers? How does the graphic novel format elevate the story being told? 

Megan: Middle-grade readers are constantly confronted by an overwhelming array of changes—at home, in school, among their friends and families, and even in their own bodies and their evolving perceptions of themselves. At its heart, ALLERGIC is a story of adapting to these swiftly shifting circumstances and, ultimately, embracing resiliency and joy.

The graphic novel format brings such rich visual storytelling to the page. Michelle’s art really draws out the funny and the emotional moments, building it into a story that will make you both laugh and cry.

Michelle: There are so many changes during middle-grade and it’s so difficult to talk about when you’re that age. Allergies or not, finding yourself is never easy and at the heart of ALLERGIC that’s all Maggie is really trying to do. She has tied her identity so much to wanting a pet that when she has to adapt to life without one, she struggles. We all go through that and I love how Maggie finds new ways to grow and make her own path.

Graphic novels have such a unique way of reaching a person’s heart and can stick with you for years after you close the book. They’re so much fun to read and I can still remember how I felt reading my favorite graphic novels. If you can identify with a character and see yourself represented this way, it can have such a positive impact on your life. 

What are the main takeaways that you hope readers of ALLERGIC will have?

Megan: First and foremost, I hope readers will be entertained by Maggie’s adventures and misadventures in ALLERGIC. I also hope that readers with allergies will feel seen, and those without allergies will feel a renewed empathy for those with allergies. And I hope that all readers will see through Maggie’s story that you can always find new ways to connect with others and be your best self, no matter what surprising challenges life throws your way.

Michelle: Most of all, I want readers to feel seen when they read ALLERGIC. Feeling connected and finding a character that resonates with you can make such a difference at that age. As readers go through all Maggie’s adventures I really hope they find joy and knowledge knowing that no matter what, you can always find new joy.