Everyone loves a classic game of capture the flag! In the United States, it’s practically a staple of childhood: the sense of friendly competition, the teamwork, the pulse-pounding possibility of victory. But what if a neighborhood game of capture the flag was so contentious that it lasted past a day… or a week… or seventy-five years?!
Such is the unusual setting of J.D. Amato and Sophie Morse’s The Endless Game, a middle grade novel in which the new kid in town finds himself swept up into a decades-long game of capture the flag. We had the chance to chat with J.D and Sophie about their collaborative debut and what went into creating this larger-than-life game for young readers.
Welcome to The Baby Bookworm, J.D. and Sophie! For those unfamiliar with The Endless Game, could you please introduce us to Fred and what is going on with his life at the start of the novel?
JDA & SM: Fred Townsend is a middle schooler whose family has moved towns pretty much every year. He’s never really had friends, and he doesn’t really know how he fits in with other kids.
At the beginning of The Endless Game, Fred’s family moves to the suburban town of Lakeside, IL, where Fred comes to learn that every kid in the town is part of a game of capture the flag that has been going on for 80 years. Not only is Fred about to make a lot of friends, but he’s also going to be part of a community of kids who are all figuring out how they fit into the world around them.
This is a debut graphic novel for both of you; congratulations! What made you want to dive into this genre, and what were some of the challenges and surprises you faced?
JDA & SM: We both grew up in the suburbs, playing outside with roving packs of kids. So, we were both eager to tell a story full of adventure, action, and kid-sized drama that would have resonated with our childhood selves.
Being our debut, something that was both a challenge and a surprise was the amount of freedom we had to decide how to bring the book to life. We chose to work closely with each other, something that can sometimes be unusual for an author and illustrator. But we shared such a vision for the book that it seemed natural to us!
J.D., this is no ordinary game of capture the flag. How did you come up with the elaborate history, rules, and mechanics of this fierce, decades-long competition?
JDA: I based it a lot on the games I played in my neighborhood growing up. I feel like every town has their own games that evolve their own rules and lore over time. In fact, I think it often takes until you’re older when you compare notes with other adults to realize how unique your childhood games really were. So, I started with rules and gameplay that felt interesting and then went backwards to try to investigate the type of history that might have led to those rules.
We had so many stories and characters in this world that we wanted to explore, so it was a challenge to decide which stories to tell now and which to save for the future.
In addition to a sense of playfulness and nostalgia, there are some serious themes threaded throughout the story: privilege, corruption, generational expectations, etc. How did you balance the lighter moments of the novel with its heavier ones?
JDA: Those middle school summers are such an important time when kids are starting to navigate how they fit into the world around them. So, we wanted to depict the fullness of that experience, which means success sometimes comes with failure, joy sometimes comes with complication, and that not everyone’s journey is exactly the same.
So, we tried to make sure characters had a life outside of the game, and that all of the light moments and heavy moments pointed towards growth or understanding.
Sophie, the settings and character design play such a big role in the storytelling of The Endless Game. How did you go about building the visuals for the town of Lakeside and its inhabitants?
SM: I took a lot of inspiration from the many suburban towns here in Massachusetts, especially from my hometown of Acton, MA. I was also super inspired by my childhood friends from my old neighborhood, and worked to incorporate them into the character designs.
When it comes to visual direction, I wanted something that looked gritty and tactile, but still appealing and engaging to look at.
Graphic novels can be a more complex collaborative process than traditionally illustrated books. How did The Endless Game’s team come together, and how did you find the experience of creating together?
JDA & SM: This was our first time working together! But we hit it off instantly and were extremely collaborative. In fact, we’ve been told it’s actually a little unusual how collaborative we were for an author and illustrator with no prior history. We would talk out story and blocking and dialogue and design choices.
We let each other give feedback on all aspects of the process. We think it made the book better, not only because it allowed us to share our pool of knowledge, but also because publishing can be a long and arduous process, and having a cheerleader in each other throughout kept us inspired.
J.D., your background is largely in comedy, television, and film. How much did those experiences inform your approach to writing the story of Fred and the townspeople of Lakeside?
JDA: It all plays a huge part in how I approach storytelling. I’ve found in my non-publishing work that the specificity and strangeness of real life are one of my favorite things to try to capture.
So, in writing the stories of Lakeside, I tried to pull in as much of that three-dimensional specificity as possible. Characters are complicated and not everything is logical–and seeing that on the page is what I think can make readers lean in.
Sophie, a similar question: How did your background in creating single scenes or short-form comics inform your process when creating the world of The Endless Game?
SM: A lot of my illustration work over the years has mainly consisted of finished, highly-polished work, due to my gigs thus far being single scenes or short form. I worked to bring that level of finish to the book, too, and have every panel be considered.
One of my favorite questions to ask creators of children’s books is about the books that inspired them when they were young readers themselves. What are some of the books that you loved from childhood that you carry with you as adults?
SM: I read a lot of my brother’s Tintin books, and to this day, they are definitely an inspiration. I also loved the -ology books (Dragonology, Egyptology, etc.), Seekers (the bear version of Warriors), and 39 Clues.
JDA: The Neverending Story is a book that endlessly captures my imagination. There are paragraphs in The Neverending Story that could be entire books. It’s full of relatable, grounded feelings communicated through absurd, abstract fantasy.
Lastly, in honor of The Endless Game, if you could pick any five people—living, dead, or fictional—for a game of capture the flag against one another, who would you pick?
JDA: To be honest, if I could be transported back in time to play one more game with my childhood neighbors and friends, that would be worth it. I still don’t think anyone could beat us if we worked together.
SM: I would probably pick the kids from the cartoon Codename: Kids Next Door… we would destroy our enemies.
About J.D. Amato
J.D. Amato is a writer based in Astoria, NY. He is best known for his work as a showrunner for comedy television shows like After Midnight, Desus & Mero, My Brother, My Brother, and Me, and The Chris Gethard Show. He is currently an executive producer on The Undercovers, hosted by Eli Manning.
Beyond television and film, J.D. has been a house performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, consulted for various magicians, performed as a mime, and once hosted a podcast where every episode was twelve hours long.
He grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and outside of writing, he is an amateur distance runner and loves colorful things.
About Sophie Morse
Sophie Morse is an illustrator based in Boston, MA. She received her BFA in Illustration from RISD in 2020. She has experience in editorial, publishing, and art direction, and her past clients include Simon & Schuster, NPR, and more.
She loves making work that her tinier self would think is cool, and would definitely print out and tape to her childhood bedroom wall. When she is not drawing, she is exploring New England, haunting local graveyards, and running around at her day job as a letterpress printer.
An endless thank you to J.D. and Sophie for taking the time to talk about their work with us! Visit J.D. at his website, JDAmato.net, and on Instagram, and visit Sophie at her website, SophieMorse.com, and on Instagram! Lastly, be sure to check out The Endless Game on bookshelves everywhere, April 28th!
The Baby Bookworm 