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Cover Story

Grades 4-6

She's Serious About Comics

Drawing is Alexa Kitchen's favorite hobby. She spends at least three hours a day sketching characters and creating comics. There are piles of paper all around her family's Massachusetts home. "If I draw myself into a corner and can't think of anything else, it's a reject," she told TFK. "I keep drawing until I find something I'm happy with."

Her work has paid off. Last summer, her parents published a book of her "keepers," Drawing Comics Is Easy! (Except When It's Hard). Alexa, 9, is critical of it. The comics are from when she was 7, and aren't as detailed as her recent drawings. Still, her work has drawn praise from professional cartoonists, including Patrick McDonnell, creator of the comic strip Mutts.

Before becoming a publisher, Alexa's father, Denis, was a cartoonist. His company, which publishes graphic novels, released Alexa's book. Alexa shares some of her practiced pencil-to-paper tips in the pages of Drawing. She hopes it will help other young artists to "find their own styles."

Alexa uses her interests and activities as material for comics. One in particular, "annoying my parents," will soon get top billing. She says her father is gathering some of her work for a second book, Grown-ups Are Dumb. It's about "how kids see their parents, no offense." None taken--not by Alexa's mom, Stacey, anyway: "We're just as pleased as punch she has found something she loves."

Next: Touring Latin America