Mai Ngo & Collins Big Cat: Toothpaste Sandwich
We’re excited to share Toothpaste Sandwich, the latest project by Vietnamese artist, Mai Ngo, written by Henry White and published by Collins Big Cat. This humorous story follows Royal twins Garwick and Magatha who have been pranking each other since the day they were born.
Mai shared her experience, inspiration and challenges that she faced while working on this project:
“Have you ever read a book then cried: “OH MAN! This is so meeee!!!!”? Yep. That was me the moment I read the first draft of Toothpaste Sandwich by Henry White. I’ve worked on a lot of interesting books, but finding one that feels so relatable? Rare! It's like a goldmine for me.
The dynamic between the twins, Magathar and Garwick, instantly reminded me of my childhood with my younger brother. The fights, the drama, the ridiculousness… all of it came back to me so dearly. I love working on stories like this: quirky, a little weird, a little mysterious, humorous in a unique way, yet still meaningful. It’s challenging, but also incredibly fun.
I spent a lot of time figuring out the characters and building their world. The tricky part? Creating a world that doesn’t belong to any specific time: something timeless, but still full of personality and humor. And you know what? Humor is tricky. There’s gentle humor, dark humor, chaotic sibling humor… and somewhere in there is the sweet spot for kids. Finding that balance is not easy. I went through lots of sketches. And then something unexpected happened… The final design of the 2 main characters looked suspiciously like… me and my brother when we were kids.
In the end, working on Toothpaste Sandwich didn’t really feel like work. It felt like going back in time, stealing a bunch of childhood memories, and turning them into something fun, weird, and alive for young readers.”
If you’d like to work with Mai, please contact: [email protected]
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