Stargazing is a heartwarming middle-grade graphic novel in the spirit of Real Friends and El Deafo, from New York Times bestselling author-illustrator Jen Wang.
Moon is everything Christine isn't. She’s confident, impulsive, artistic . . . and though they both grew up in the same Chinese-American suburb, Moon is somehow unlike anyone Christine has ever known.
But after Moon moves in next door, these unlikely friends are soon best friends, sharing their favorite music videos and painting their toenails when Christine's strict parents aren't around. Moon even tells Christine her deepest secret: that she has visions, sometimes, of celestial beings who speak to her from the stars. Who reassure her that earth isn't where she really belongs.
Moon's visions have an all-too-earthly root, however, and soon Christine's best friend is in the hospital, fighting for her life. Can Christine be the friend Moon needs, now, when the sky is falling?
Jen Wang draws on her childhood to paint a deeply personal yet wholly relatable friendship story that’s at turns joyful, heart-wrenching, and full of hope.--from the publisher
224 pages 978-1250183880 Ages 8-12
*************
Can two girls who seem to be really different from one another ever become friends? Christine lives in a strict Chinese family where she is expected to follow a path to academic excellence and success. A lot of the time she feels like she isn't really enough of anything for her parents. She isn't the best at the violin. She doesn't get all As on her math tests.
At church her parents find out there is a single mom with a daughter, Moon, and they need some help to make ends meet. Christine's parents clear out the empty extra unit next door. They invite Moon and her mother to come and live there until they get back on their feet.
When Moon moves in , Christine's world gets a whole lot bigger. Moon listens to K-Pop, paints her toenails black and is comfortable to be herself in most situations. Moon also believes she comes from a world far above the planet Earth.
Christine struggles with what her parents have taught her to be and what she sees Moon free to do. Friendships, jealousies, talent shows, growing, accepting others and parenting weave together in this gently heartfelt story about what happens when a free spirit and a girl with rigid rules live next door to each other.
Keywords: graphic novels, friendship, Asian culture, friends, being yourself, fitting in, belonging, parents, illness, helping others, Asian American author, Asian American, 8 year old, 9 year old, 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year old
