The Scooter Twins - House of Anansi / Groundwood Books
Melanie and Melvin may be twins, but they couldn’t be more different.
Melanie is LOUD and Melvin is quiet. Melvin likes frogs and Melanie loves MOTORCYCLES! When the twins learn that they will get their very own mobility scooters, Melanie is excited to race to school, but Melvin is worried he’ll fall — and that people will stare. And there’s a problem: Grandma can’t afford the scooters without selling one of Mom’s treasured paintings, one of the only things the twins have left to remember their parents.
In the process of getting their scooters, Melanie and Melvin have to navigate challenges that people with disabilities face on a daily basis: rudeness from a store clerk and products that aren’t made with kids in mind. But in the end, Melanie and Melvin choose scooters that are just right for them and make moving through their neighborhood a new adventure.
Written by disability advocate and mobility scooter user Dorothy Ellen Palmer, and illustrated by Maria Sweeney, The Scooter Twins is an #ownvoices story that shares the joys and challenges of disabled childhood, and offers many kids who get new wheels the opportunity to find themselves in the pages of a book.
Book Synopsis
Two-time Eisner Awards nominee, Brittle Joints is an evocative and heartfelt graphic memoir about the challenges of living with a progressive disability.
With lush illustrations, Maria tells the story of her lifelong struggle to obtain care in an increasingly complicated and disinterested US healthcare system. But for every step that presents a struggle, there's also beauty, friendship, art, and growth. She documents the relief she's found in alternative therapies, particularly medical marijuana; in loving community and chosen family; and in nature and her creative practice. A powerfully understated critique of our modern world, Brittle Joints offers a generous, expansive look at how to live and love amidst the challenges of survival.
About the Author
Maria Sweeney is a queer artist who was born in Moldova and grew up in New Jersey. She got her BFA from Moore College of Art and Design. She lives in the Easy Bay, and when she's not reading or sketching comics, she's snuggling with her tiny dog, Bambi. This is her debut graphic novel.
The stories in Cypher: Issue 5 have been published during 2020 United Nation's 16-Day Campaign for Domestic Abuse. The UN System’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence activities spans from November 25th to December 10th. I was commissioned to depict the stories of several Moldovan women affected by domestic abuse and the involvement of nonprofits and counseling work that helped rehabilitate them.
I was adopted from Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Eastern Europe. While I am relatively removed from Moldovan culture, my ethnicity is something I am very proud of and it was exciting to be asked to create work that is close to my heart in some way. I will be sharing more snippets from this comic over the course of the rest of the campaign.
@cypher_comics // @frontlinedefenders ❤️
🔹Read Now 📖: www.frontlinedefenders.org/cypher
🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cypher_comics
Hi all! This was and still is my contribution to Magic Bullet - Washington, D.C.'s Comics Newspaper which is on hold till we can all go out again! 🏠
• Magic Bullet is a free semi-annually published comic newspaper focused on presenting the work of independent and underground cartoonists. They are often open-themed, giving artists of all ranges & mediums the opportunity to create anything they want, however the themed issues are also exciting & challenging.
DISABILITY & SELF-CARE by Maria Sweeney https://inarutcomics.bigcartel.com/product/disability-self-care
This educational mini-zine focuses on different forms of self-care and how it intersects with the disabled community. Some issues include how disability self-care might look different than able-bodied care, organizing your health from a paperwork side, and reaching out to friends and family during times of struggle.
THE STRAW BAN by Maria Sweeney
https://inarutcomics.bigcartel.com/product/the-straw-ban
The Straw Ban is an educational mini-zine about the ableism behind the ban of plastic straws throughout cities in the United States, and how it negatively effects the disabled community. Plastic straws are the only universally accessible straw -- this zine details why alternatives do not exist and what individuals and businesses can do to be inclusive and accessible to the disabled community. Plastic straws are optional for some people, for others they are an absolute necessity.
Golden Hour
By Maria Sweeney
Email or direct message to order copies of “Golden Hour.”
[email protected]
Instagram: moldovamaria
http://mariasweeney.com
Maria Sweeney is a Moldovan-born, Bay Area-based digital illustrator, author and comic artist. Her debut graphic memoir, Brittle Joints, lushly illustrates her lifelong battle for care within the complex and indifferent US healthcare system while finding liberation through chosen family, loving community, and the natural world. Represented by literary agent Meg Thompson, the memoir will be published by Street Noise Books in August 2024. Maria illustrated the children’s book, The Scooter Twins, written by Dorothy Ellen Palmer, about twins with opposite personalities, getting mobility devices for the first time, forthcoming from Groundwood Books, the children’s book arm of House of Anansi Press. She won an Outstanding Submission in the 2019 Locher Memorial Awards for her educational mini-comic, The Straw Ban, about the impact of this ban on disabled people. Her work has been published in Fantagraphics, The Comics Journal, Front Line Defenders’ Cypher Comics, as well as self-published comics relating to her experience of navigating the world with a rare disability.
She graduated magna cum laude from Moore College of Art and Design with a BFA in Illustration and works extensively in digital, oils, watercolors, pen and pencil. In addition she speaks publicly and advocates for accessibility in the arts. When she’s not reading or sketching comics, or cultivating her Patreon community, she’s snuggling with her tiny dog, Bambi.
An evocative and heartfelt graphic memoir about the challenges of living with a progressive disability.
Street Noise Books Edited by Liz Frances and Jisu Kim
The Scooter Twins 2024
Uplifting children’s book that shares the joys and challenges of disabled childhood, and offers many kids who get new wheels the opportunity to find themselves in the pages of a book.
Groundwood Books, the children’s book arm of House of Anansi Press, written by Dorothy Ellen Palmer, edited by Karen Li
Disability & Self-Care 2021
Educational mini-zine that focuses on different forms of self-care and how it intersects with the disabled community.
Featured in Carnegie Mellon University’s anthology, How Well?,Distributed by Radiator Comics.
The Straw Ban 2019
Educational mini-zine centering the ableism behind the ban of plastic straws throughout cities in the United States, and how it negatively affects the disabled community.
Featured in Carnegie Mellon University’s anthology, How Well?. Distributed by Radiator Comics.
Outstanding Submission in the 2019 Locher Memorial Awards recipient
Brittle Joints (zine) 2018-2020
Digitally illustrated zine about living with a rare disability. Self published and distributed by Birdcage Bottom Books.
Featured interview by RJ Casey for Fantagraphics, The Comics Journal, Issue #305: Health, Disability, Illness and Comics, Seattle, WA, February 2020 Featured in Bright Lite Magazine - Issue #8, 2019
Featured panelist at New York Comic is Con: Truth is a Super Power!, 2019
Featured at Villanova University Art Gallery, 2018
Golden Hour - 2017
Art book of traditional watercolor illustrations. Self-published and printed by Outlandish Press.
Original watercolor illustrations on display at Newark Index Art Center, 2018
In A Rut Comics, Issues #1-3 2015-2018
A collaborative slice-of-life comic series with Eros Livieratos with rotating characters, living in the East coast and navigating the local punk scene. Self published and distributed through Birdcage Bottom Books.
Featured in the article “Moore student with Bruck syndrome calls college experience 'transformative'” by Natalie Pompilio for The Philadelphia Inquirer
Featured in the article “Coping with pain, local artist earns graduation honor” by Jerry Carino, Asbury Park Press, New Jersey - 2016
Featured “Happy Hustler of the Month” for Asbury Park Press., Philadelphia PA
Front Line Defenders’ Cypher Comics
Cypher Comics: Issue #16 - Belarus
Illustrator & comics biography contributor
Cypher Comics: Issue #13 - Ukraine
Cover artist & comics biography contributor
Cypher Comics: Issue #5 - Moldova
Cover artist & comics biography contributor
Winning Writers - 2023
Reflections for Lilith
Illustrator for essay winner of 2023 Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest
HUNYGRL Collective - 2018-2019
Independent, LGBTQA+ and femme-centered art collective spotlighting marginalized artists
In A Rut Comics - a collaborative comic series by Eros Livieratos & Maria Sweeney.
Issues 1, 2, and most recently, Issue 3 are available online:
www.inarutcomics.bigcartel.com
