Although Mouly thought the logical next step was a series of stand-alone graphic novels for beginning readers, no publisher would take on the project, as there was no precedent for such books. “That was my cue to say: I’ll do it myself! If the CEO of Random House says it can’t be done, of course I can do it,” Mouly says. She commissions, edits and produces each TOON book out of the headquarters of her publishing house, RAW Junior, located in what she describes as a “broken-down loft” on Greene Street. Like her husband’s seminal graphic novel Maus, which was rejected by dozens of publishers before ultimately winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1992, TOON Books seems poised to prove the skeptics wrong.

The first three titles arrive this month, with another trio due in the fall. Lovingly produced (with details like designer endpapers and teaser covers) and winsomely written, the books are primed to appeal to their target audience of kids age four and older. Silly Lilly by Agnès Rosenstiehl, based on a French children’s-book character, is the simplest in language and story, set off by rich primary colors and clean lines. A step up in sophistication is Geoffrey Hayes’s Benny and Penny in Just Pretend, a tale of sibling mice with familiar conflicts. Finally, Otto’s Orange Day by Frank Cammuso and Jay Lynch is a bouncy chapter book about a color-loving cat and a mischievous genie. Fall offerings include works by Spiegelman and superhero-comics star Dean Haspiel.