Gamerville, the new graphic novel by Johnnie Christmas, is about friendship and crossing one's own boundaries

Gamerville is the latest middle school graphic novel from author Johnny Christmas that explores human relationships and inspires children to try new things.

In GamervilleVideo gamer Max is sent to Camp Reset by his parents, causing him to miss out on the championship of his favorite game. At Camp Reset, Max trades late-night gaming sessions for group activities, sun, and fresh air, but longs for the chance to win the Gamerville title. Devastated and frustrated, he plans his escape. As he devises ingenious ways to bend the camp to his will, Max discovers that the real world may not be so bad after all.

Christmas is a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator currently living in Vancouver. He previously illustrated Margaret Atwood'S Angel Cat and is the creator of Swim teamIn 2022, CBC Books named Christmas the Author to keep an eye on.

He spoke with The next chapter's Christa Couture on representation, friendship and leaving your comfort zone.

Max is a typical child of his generation and spends a lot of time online, especially playing games. How does this influence his view of the world?

He sees the world through the screen and the screen looks back at him and all his validation comes through the screen, there are yardsticks for every performance he makes. With him, everything is quantified in that way and there is always an eye looking back and he himself is always looking at something.

His mother comes from a world where everything is a bit sloppy and chaotic, where you can make mistakes and have fun and hurt your knee now and then. She sees this very safe world that Max lives in and that worries her. He spends all his time in his room, he doesn't have many friends in the real world and he's quite obsessed with this digital video game world.

Because of his life in the online world, Max starts out as a loner. He was previously homeschooled and likes to do his own thing. Eventually, however, he realizes the value of teamwork. Can you talk about how he grows and changes throughout the story?

Max has this crazy plan and decides to turn summer camp into a game. He says, “You know what? I don't know how to do all the summer camp stuff. I do know how to win a video game, so I'm going to treat summer camp like a video game. I'm going to make everything about this place into a game and I'm going to use that to get out of here and get to Gamerville.” That becomes his new goal and in doing so he tries to find allies and starts making friends at camp.

The deeper he becomes entangled in his escape plan, the deeper he gets into the camp itself.– Johnny Christmas

He begins to fit in with the camp, and then he faces another turning point: “Well, actually, I kind of like this place, it's actually pretty cool.” The deeper he gets embroiled in his escape plan, the deeper he gets into the camp itself.

In your graphic novels, you write about young black protagonists whose blackness is not their defining characteristic. In this case, it is Max, an avid gamer. What do you want to achieve by portraying your characters in this way?

Oh, just the reality. Black is always portrayed as synonymous with race, rather than just being Black. We're just Black people, you know, and instead of fighting the dragon like a lot of white protagonists do, we fight the system or the human. Sometimes we want to fight the dragon too. The journey that a lot of white protagonists and others take is a journey inward, because the dragon is inside us, right? But our journeys, as portrayed in a lot of media, are journeys outward.

Instead of fighting the dragon, as many white protagonists do, we have to fight the system or the human being. Sometimes we want to fight the dragon.– Johnny Christmas

I've found that a lot of black characters don't have a lot of self-reflection. Everyone goes on a journey of self-reflection, everyone goes on a journey, and I want black kids to see themselves on a journey that's about themselves, in terms of the challenges that may be facing them in their lives at any given time.

Sometimes racism is the challenge, don't get me wrong, but when 90% of the information about black life is about race, we're missing out on so much.

What message would you like to convey to young readers? Gamerville?

I think the message is to engage in your world. There's a lot of world out there and a lot to explore. I encourage them to get out there and explore because when you're online, you can pinpoint your adventure. But when you're walking down the street and you're taking a long walk with your friends, you never know what you're going to encounter. You never know who you're going to meet. You never know what you're going to discover.

Most of the insights I've had about a story or about life come from just walking around. I walk past this dilapidated old house, and the paint is peeling off in just this certain way, and the steps are worn, and I can see the paint peeling off the steps. That triggers something in my mind that wouldn't happen if I was just at home and clicking on the things I want to see. It's almost like you're just jumping back and forth between yourself. It's a little weird.

When you collide with people, you collide with the world.– Johnny Christmas

I encourage young people to go out and experience some of that friction. To meet other people, to meet the world. To learn new things, to get some fresh air.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.