Award Winner, Publication for Kids (ages 9-12)

STARGAZING

By Jen Wang

Original Graphic Novel
Publisher : First Second
Release : 9/10/2019
Softcover : 224 pages
Dimensions : 5.5″ x 8.0″
Reading Age : 8 – 12+ years
MSRP : $12.99

Intimately personal but surprisingly relatable

I enjoy stories about friendship, personal awareness, and growth. Writer/Artist Jen Wang crafts the story of Christine and Moon’s friendship that is as charming as anything I’ve read from Raina Telgemeier or Gene Yuen Lang.

"I always wanted to tell a story that was about my childhood and how I felt growing up around a lot of other Chinese Americans. I feel that it’s pretty common for kids of color in America to be either the only [kids of color] in their schools or communities or just one of many because there are a lot of immigrants in the area or they live in a community hub. Stories with multiple characters from the same community, all protagonists, was something that I hadn’t seen a lot. I wanted to do that and focus on the specific ways I felt and reacted to the other Chinese-American kids around me. Stargazing is about two Chinese-American girls, one from a more traditional immigrant family and the other with a single mom and who’s vegetarian, Buddhist, and a little different. I wanted to highlight the dynamic between two very different individuals within one community."

Jen Wang

Cartoonist

I would have given this book a higher rating, but I was somewhat perplexed how little the story had anything to do with astronomy, constellations, or actual stargazing. There is one short scene where their class visits a planetarium and another where they talk about spirits in the sky, but it is hardly a theme of the book. It also seemed as though Wang rushed the pacing at the end of the book. She created something very special but while reading I became conscious of how very few pages were left to wrap everything up. She touched on some pretty complex issues I would have enjoyed to have seen drawn out a bit.

Awards and Accolades

This original graphic novel managed to stand out around some pretty strong competition (Jerry Craft’s New Kid, George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy, Raina Telgemeier’s Guts, Gene Yuen Lang’s Dragon Hoops and Superman Smashes the Klan. Check out all of the praise for Stargazing: