Author Interview: Dan in Green Gables by Rey Terciero

Author Interview: Dan in Green Gables by Rey Terciero

I am fully into my graphic novel era (do we still say eras, or am I in my outdated phrase era?) so when I was sent an e-ARC of Dan in Green Gables by Rey Terciero and illustrated by Claudia Aguirre, I dove right in and was not disappointed! I loved this gender flipped, queer, and more modern (yet still technically lightly-historical as in the 1990s!!) retelling of Anne in Green Gables! The art was absolutely stunning, which I have come to expect from the Eisner Award nominated comic book artist! Dan in Green Gables is available now!

Thank you to Penguin Workshop for the gifted finished copy & e-ARC!

Dan in Green Gables: A Graphic Novel

by Rey Terciero, Claudia Aguirre
Published by: Penguin Workshop
on June 3, 2025
Genres: Graphic Novel, LGBTQIA+, Young Adult
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In this modern reimagining of Anne of Green Gables, effervescent extrovert Dan Stewart-Álvarez is surprised to find home and community in rural Tennessee.

Despite a life on the road with his free-spirited mother, fifteen-year-old Dan Stewart-Álvarez has always wanted to settle down. He just didn’t think it’d be like this: with his mother abandoning him in rural Tennessee with two strangers—his gentle grandmother and conservative, rough-around-the-edges grandfather. Here, he is forced to adjust to working the farm, entering high school, and hardest yet—reckoning with his queerness in a severe Southern Baptist community.

But even as Dan grows closer to his mawmaw, befriends fellow outsiders at school, and tries to make a new life for himself in Green Gables, he has to discover whether he can contend with intolerance and adapt to change without losing himself in the process.

From award-winning author Rey Terciero and Eisner Award nominee and illustrator Claudia Aguirre comes a new retelling of Anne of Green Gables about unconventional families, queer identity, and finding the meaning of home in the most unlikely of places.

Author Interview

Since Dan in Green Gables is another graphic novel retelling of a classic, which you have done a few before, what inspires you to take on these older works and update them?

REX: Literature is life! LOL. Not to be dramatic, but it is. Books have saved my life many times in so many different ways. Stories are everything. And when I was boy, reading these amazing classics like Little Women and Anne of Green Gables, I would fantasize about being the main character, or bringing these characters to modern times so I could hang out with them (and be best friends of course). So basically, I was writing fanfic at an early age re-imagining the stories I loved into something that resonated a little deeper with me. I wanted there to be characters that more reflected me a little more closely. I identified with Anne’s struggle as an orphan, because I struggled with my own lack of the feeling of “home”, but I wanted to see a boy who was also part Mexican or part Texan or even a little queer. So as an adult and as a writer, I’ve been trying to go back and bring that fan fiction to reality–basically to make my younger self happy. And it’s working. 🙂

I adored Dan’s choices, especially with the gusto he had when learning the aspects of the farm, I hear that you took some of this inspiration from your own family life, can you share more?

REX: Well, I grew up in rural Texas, so there were a lot of country bumpkin fun at an early age… we’re talking rattlesnake rallies and racing trucks in fields and of course a lot of horse sh*t. Literally. Cuz a lot of my friends worked with horses on ranches. So I played with a lot of that imagery and narrative points in Northranger (my modern re-imagining of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey). But the story of Dan in Green Gables is more gentle and sweet and quiet, just like the times I spent with my paternal grandparents in the hills of Tennessee. About once every other year, I’d go up, and just go wild on their little farm. At an early age, I was chasing fireflies, watering huge green vegetables, and picking fresh blackberries from the vine, smearing the dark juices all over my hands and face as I devoured them. My pawpaw even had honeybees way in the back, and I would quietly walk up to the apiary boxes and just watch the bees going and coming. They were so beautiful. And of course my grandmother had a basement full of jarred vegetables and fruits. So I didn’t stray much from my own life experience to give Dan a whole world to explore.

I liked how you balanced Dan being able to continue to express himself and be his true self, while still respecting his grandparents way of life – how hard was it to create that balance?

REX: Oof. That’s a great question. As a boy, I was visiting Tennessee and my very religious family during the 80’s and early 90’s. So being out and proud wasn’t exactly something I was brave enough to deal with yet. But I wanted Dan to be braver than I was. And he was. Is! He is so current and cool. LOL. But the story itself takes place in the 90’s, because I wanted young readers to witness how queerness was handled–or mishandled–in decades past. When I write something, I always want to bring a bit if historical context through. I don’t know whether my readers appreciate it, but I love writing stories in a world before the internet, before phones, when things were a little more intimate, a little more raw, and being vulnerable was that much harder because you had to do it face to face. There was no hiding behind screens when I was growing up, trying to figure out how to be myself while also trying to be what society and my family wanted me to be.

Claudia’s art was so vibrant, what is the collaboration process like when writing a graphic novel script and then seeing the illustrations come to life?

REX: Oh wow. It’s one of my favorite parts of the whole process. I was an editor at DC Comics for nearly a decade back in the day, so I was very lucky to work with so many great artists that really taught me what works and what doesn’t work, and over time, I feel like I developed a good eye for talent. And when I saw Claudia’s samples, I was immediately taken in, and like, “This is our artist.” She’s so great at nailing both emotion and all of the nature that I requested. Good thing she can draw trees, because I certainly cannot. So when her pages would arrive in my inbox, I would just there with my mouth open for hours, going over page after page of incredible line art and the most stunning color work. It makes me so happy to see Claudia making the story in my head into a reality on paper.

Can you share what you are currently working on, our readers love to see what’s next?

REX: I’m working on a lot, but I don’t wanna talk your ear off. LOL. A few projects I’m super proud of include a Rey Terciero re-imagining of Homer’s Odyssey and next year’s Count of Monte Cristo High, which is sooooo much fun. If Dan is sweet and heartfelt, Count swings in the other direction as a high school gay revenge story. I mean, who doesn’t love a little vengeance on those bullies who have wronged ya in a big way. Haha. And under my own name, I am putting out the third installment of my middle grade graphic novel memoirs. Four Eyes deals with getting glasses in 6th grade, Pizza Face deals with getting pimples in 7th grade, and the next one–Fruitcake–well, I think it’s kinda obvious what that one’s about. I love telling stories and it’s an absolute honor to be making books for the next generation. If even just one of my books can help someone the way books helped me growign up, I’ll be happy.