A Map to the Sun by Sloane Leong
Published by First Second on August 4, 2020
ISBN: 1250146682
Pages: 368
Goodreads

A few times while reading this graphic novel by Sloane Leong, I had to remind myself that I was not watching a documentary about my students’ lives. This story of female friendship felt amazingly authentic. Set in contemporary Los Angeles, Ren and Luna, both basketball players, become friends. Luna leaves LA without even saying goodbye, so when she appears at Ren’s school a few years later their friendship does not automatically pick up where it left off. However, they can’t avoid each other, their lives keep intersecting, so they both find themselves on a newly established girls’ basketball team at their school. Along with three other girls, basketball becomes the place where they work out their aggression and look to build their self-confidence. Each player is dealing with their own personal issues and the more they play together the stronger their friendship becomes. Some readers might be disappointed that the personal issues are not fully resolved or explored as often happens in real life. Instead, the focus is on their friendship receives the reader’s full attention, not the issues. The illustrations change shape, size, and color on each page to capture the mood of the story. The only issue for readers might be the lack of contrast between the text bubbles and background colors. For readers with any vision issues, this graphic novel may prove difficult to read. 

Elizabeth Andersen, Librarian, Westbrook High School