Award-winning Portland author and illustrator Aron Nels Steinke is perhaps best known for his “Mr. Wolf’s Class” series of graphic novels which revolve around a teacher – who happens to be a wolf – and his 4th grade class of anthropomorphized animal students. Steinke drew from his experience as a teacher at Portland’s Woodstock Elementary School for that series. 

Now, with his new book, he’s drawing from his personal experience as an adolescent student who struggled with social anxiety. “Speechless” tells the story of Mira, a 6th grader who has selective mutism, an anxiety disorder which prevents people from speaking in certain social situations, such as in front of a class. The graphic novel explores the messy feelings and turns and twists of relationships during adolescence, on top of the struggle to find your voice. Aron Nels Steinke joins us to talk about “Speechless.”