Stargazing

Stargazing is a heartwarming graphic novel about the friendship between two young girls. Christine is a model student from a strict Chinese family. Moon is a carefree girl raised by her single mother who is struggling to make ends meet. Moon and her mother move into Christine’s family’s in-law unit, and the girls end up spending a lot of time together. The girls bond over K-POP and quickly become friends. Tragedy befalls and tests their friendship.

This is the first graphic novel that I have read that features Chinese protagonists, and I am very thankful that Jen Wang told this story. What was more amazing was part of the story was semi-autobiographical. I found the story to be very relatable, and I was happy to see Moon’s character portrayed differently than your stereotypical Chinese model student. I love the illustrations in Stargazing. The style reminded me of some old Chinese children’s cartoons. I also love how it is very different from her previous work. It shows that Jen Wang has a broad artistic range of style which is pretty rare. I highly recommend this graphic novel to both children and adults who enjoy phenomenal visual storytelling.