Set in outer space, Tillie Walden’s On a Sunbeam is the story of Mia. When we first meet Mia, she has just joined a crew of “reconstructionists” who travel from planet to planet to fix damaged locations. It isn’t completely explained what has happened in these places, but many of them are dangerous and unstable.
Woven into Mia’s present-day life with this crew are flashbacks showing her freshman year at boarding school five years prior. At school, Mia fell in love with Grace. But Grace was hiding a huge secret about herself and her family, which ultimately leads to Grace leaving before Mia can say goodbye. They’ve never seen each other again and Mia just wants one more chance to say goodbye and make sure Grace is okay.
As Mia becomes closer with the crew, she reveals this desire. Her new friends are supportive and decide to help Mia find her long lost love which leads to a dangerous adventure for all of them.
Tillie Walden is good at telling emotional, personal stories. Her characters are likable and relatable, just like in her memoir Spinning. While both are wildly different genres, Walden is able to capture the same universal feelings of first love, friendship, and finding your place.
To put it simply, On a Sunbeam is a sci-fi lesbian romance. Walden’s world is populated mostly by females (one of Mia’s friends/crewmates is nonbinary) and there is not one male character in the story, which I didn’t really notice until halfway through. These are strong, diverse, awesome women who can do manual labor and at the same time provide emotional support to their friends. It is not often that you see that kind of dynamite female character—and it is even more uncommon to have it be every female character in the story.
I’ll be honest; I wasn’t sure if I liked this book at first. As someone who doesn’t read a lot of sci-fi, I wondered if that kind of setting really added anything to the story. However, the more I think about it, the more I really enjoyed it. The setting adds a unique aspect to the story and in the end, it is still full of realism despite the unrealistic, futuristic world.
At 544 pages, On a Sunbeam is a bit longer than your average graphic novel, but it delves into a lot of themes that I think most readers could relate to and love. The characters are in their late teens/early twenties, and I recommend this for teens and adults.
On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden ISBN: 9781250178138 First Second, 2018 Publisher Age Rating: 12-18
Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide is famous for her haunting black and white photos. Isabel Quintero and Zeke Pena have created an enthralling graphic novel in which Iturbide’s story and photographs are brought to life for a generation who may be entirely unfamiliar with their groundbreaking work. Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide is an important graphic novel for the current culture. Mexican stories need to be told. Graphic novels like this are a reminder that the history and culture of Mexican art and artists is vast and rich. This graphic novel may be a few years old but its review is crucial.
The story opens at an art gallery with photographs on display. A group of young people ask the photographer about their style and methods. That photographer is Graciela Iturbide. She explains her methods and motives to the young attendees while the story fades into the past. The story moves through time—back and forth—from the Sonoran Desert and Mexico City to India and Frida Kahlo’s bedroom. It covers her most famous photographs as well as her childhood and relationship with her father. Graciela appears to explain in her own words what was going on at the time, the inspirations for the photographs, and her own thought process.
Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide is uniquely illustrated. The artist painstakingly recreates Graciela’s history and photographs through similar yet powerful black and white illustrations. The actual photographs accompany the illustrated versions. It’s refreshing to see artwork and photography depicted in this way, particularly in a graphic memoir. It is one thing to see an illustrated version of a piece of art, but to see it held up against the real thing is entirely different and adds great depth to the story. The attention to detail is astounding and the artist made the right decision to keep color out of the book. Graciela’s medium was black-and-white and her biography should be the same.
The writing itself feels a bit stilted and that may be entirely based on the translation. It’s hard to feel a rhythm while reading. The author includes an interesting use of a second person point of view. The author addresses the reader in short snippets of text before each chapter break. These breaks in the fourth wall are a way to introduce the reader to where the story will take place next. It’s helpful in a way, but also a bit distracting. Graciela’s descriptions are poetic and imaginative while these breaks feel unnecessary. Graciela is more than capable of telling her own story in her own way. Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide is a fascinating look into the life of a prolific and iconic Mexican photographer. Their work resides in many museums around the world. This graphic novel cannot tell Graciela’s story in its entirety, but it does a great job of introducing readers of all ages to her life and her work.
Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide is appropriate for readers 13+. It is enjoyable to readers of Tillie Walden’s On a Sunbeam, Pénélope Bagieu’s Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World, and Liana Finck’s Passing for Human.
Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide By Isabel Quintero Art by Zeke Pena ISBN: 9781947440005 Getty Publications, 2018 Publisher Age Rating: T
Browse for more like this title) Character Traits: Latinx
Adulting is hard. Cannonball, written and illustrated by Kelsey Wroten, is a raw story about the trials and tribulations of living through one’s 20s. With eye-popping illustrations and a relatable, if sometimes unlikable, main character, Cannonball is a perfect time capsule of the pains of being 24 and lost.
Caroline is an aspiring writer who graduates from school. She finds herself struggling to come to terms with growing up. While her friends start to move on and find “adult” jobs, Caroline stays stagnant. This arrested development is very much her own doing, as she refuses to sell out and become a poser. Everyone is a poser to Caroline. She believes that her words are powerful and she cannot be a part of the corporate world. She fights with her friends, her parents, and anyone connected with the writing industry. She drinks too much. She is jealous of the success of school acquaintances. Caroline falls into a dark spiral of loneliness, pettiness, and general self-hatred. One night while drunk, Caroline sits down and writes a story. It becomes an instant hit and is made into a book. Will Caroline finally find peace, or will she continue her self-sabotage?
The artwork is bright with an unusual use of colors. There is a distortion to the color palette as Caroline weaves in and out of the real world and her daydreams. The androgynous style of the characters works well with the overall queer overtones to the story. Wroten takes great care to give each character some individuality. They all have their own color scheme and signature look. The use of tattoos, hairstyles, and facial expressions rounds out the characters nicely and enhances the story greatly.
Cannonball is a painfully relatable story. The writing perfectly encapsulates a morose and stubborn 20-something who refuses to see the light among the dark. Caroline is a decidedly unlikable character. She’s mean and petty and doesn’t seem that interested in the well-being of her best friend and family. Caroline comes off as two-dimensional but the reality is that some people are so fixated on their own misery that they are blind to anything and everything else around them. The writing and dialogue feel extremely real. Cannonball is as beautiful as it is bold. It’s a classic story of existential angst and raging against the machine.
Cannonball is appropriate for readers 16+. There is a lot of alcohol consumption and some sexual situations. Cannonball would be enjoyable to readers of Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki, The Hard Tomorrow by Eleanor Davis, and On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden.
Cannonball By Kelsey Wroten ISBN: 9781941250334 Uncivilized Books, 2019 Publisher Age Rating: T
Browse for more like this title Character Traits: Queer Genderqueer, Nonbinary
Set in outer space, Tillie Walden’s On a Sunbeam is the story of Mia. When we first meet Mia, she has just joined a crew of “reconstructionists” who travel from planet to planet to fix damaged locations. It isn’t completely explained what has happened in these places, but many of them are dangerous and unstable.
Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide is famous for her haunting black and white photos. Isabel Quintero and Zeke Pena have created an enthralling graphic novel in which Iturbide’s story and photographs are brought to life for a generation who may be entirely unfamiliar with their groundbreaking work. Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide is an important graphic novel for the current culture. Mexican stories need to be told. Graphic novels like this are a reminder that the history and culture of Mexican art and artists is vast and rich. This graphic novel may be a few years old but its review is crucial.
Adulting is hard. Cannonball, written and illustrated by Kelsey Wroten, is a raw story about the trials and tribulations of living through one’s 20s. With eye-popping illustrations and a relatable, if sometimes unlikable, main character, Cannonball is a perfect time capsule of the pains of being 24 and lost.
