Jackie Ormes should be better known. She was the first Black woman cartoonist to be nationally syndicated in the United States. Her character Torchy Brown was the first Black woman character to star in a newspaper comic. Her mass-produced Patti-Jo doll, based on her cartoon character of the same name, was the first Black doll to have an extensive wardrobe. Her civil rights activism, which included producing fashion shows to raise money for causes, attracted the attention of the FBI. But a new children’s picture book promises to bring Ormes further out of obscurity. With lively words by Traci N. Todd and fun, highly detailed illustrations by Shannon Wright, Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes (Orchard/Scholastic, Jan. 3) tells the story of Ormes, her art, and her activism in a colorful and entertaining flourish that wonderfully matches the unmistakable style and buoyant, determined spirit of its subject.

Kirkus recently spoke with Todd via Zoom from her home in Chicago. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why do a children’s book on Jackie Ormes?

My quick answer would be: Why not? She drew cartoons, which is a really accessible medium for children. She had this incredibly sparkly voice, which I tried to pay homage to in the book. Also, she loved children. For that age group, I just think she’s somebody that they can relate to as creative people themselves and as people who love to shake things up. Why not do a picture book? She’s a perfect subject for it.

How does the picture-book format best serve the story of Ormes?

Picture books and comics have so much in common. They are a visual format, a visual medium supported by text. So that translation in and of itself felt like a one-to-one. The fact that the size and trim of this particular book sort of feels like a big comic panel, it’s large enough to showcase Shannon’s art. There are just a lot of good things about a picture book showcasing a person who was an artist, and not just an artist, but a comic strip artist. So, I think the format is a perfect fit.

Speaking of Shannon’s art, when I was doing my research [for this book], I went and looked at Jackie Ormes’ papers [at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Chicago]. There were patterns for her Patti-Jo doll. And there were newspaper articles and letters. Some of those things have been incorporated into the art, which is incredible.

Are there limitations to the picture-book format in telling the story of Ormes?

The only limitation is the length of a typical fixed-picture book because you have to decide what stays and what goes in terms of the details of her life. In terms of the type of information or the weight of information, I tend to write things that are a little heavier, even about happier topics, like Jackie Ormes. Like I said before, the picture book is just the perfect format because she was such a visual person. You want to see her art? Or do you want to see her? Yeah, so I think the limitations are few.

How did you come to partner with illustrator Shannon Wright?

That is the sort of something that’s handled at the publisher level. [My editor] talked about who the best fit for this book would be and decided on Shannon, and I just couldn’t be more thrilled. I’m also in publishing in my other job. I’m the publisher at a small children’s book press [Little Bee Books]. And typically, the way it works is that you get the author’s input, and there’s a lot of back and forth. That’s the way it’s worked on other books of mine. But in this case, I think everybody just knew that Shannon was the person. So, there was not a lot of back and forth in the case of Holding Her Own. And it’s worked out wonderfully.

What do you, as a Black woman writer, and Shannon Wright, as a Black woman illustrator, uniquely bring to the telling of Ormes’ story, and how was this reflected in your collaboration?

I would say that the two of us being Black women creators, that’s part of a constellation of things that make us uniquely qualified to tell this story. Like Ormes, Shannon is a cartoonist, she’s a crafter, and she’s into dolls. I’m from Chicago, where Ormes lived, and like Ormes, I worked in the comic book industry for nearly a decade. So, Shannon and I have a lot to bring to the table when it comes to telling Jackie’s story. But as Black women in particular, I think we understand or have a specific sensitivity to the kinds of struggles that Jackie had because they still exist today. On a different level, but they are still there today, both the sexism and the racism. It’s something that Shannon and I uniquely understand because of our intersections.

These intersections informed the point of view I took. I wanted to talk about Jackie as a little girl who took up space, especially when she was the age of the children who are reading the book or having the book read to them. I wanted to present a way of fighting injustice that is unlike a lot of what we see in historical accounts. Jackie wasn’t giving speeches. She was drawing. She was using her art. I thought about how important it was to have that kind of joyfulness in the struggle. And it was really important for me to tell the truth about the larger Black struggle that was going on and talk about the government and the FBI and how they were coming after Jackie, just trying to live. As a Black person, I might be more inclined to “go there” than someone else might.

What impact would you like for Holding Her Own to have?

I hope children find this joyful. I certainly hope it brings more attention to Jackie’s story because she is so little known. I hope it’s inspiring for children. The whole book isn’t about fighting injustice, but the idea that there is no one way to fight is really important to me. So I hope that comes across. I hope children love seeing this image of a beautiful Black woman—I mean, fashionable to the nines—and who raised that icon. And she was all about it. She integrated that into her design of her characters and into the way she chose to show up. Jackie Ormes is just such a unique figure. So I hope children are excited about discovering her.

Gina Murrell is a Black queer librarian, writer, and copy editor in New York.