A Map to the Sun

(Hardback)

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Description

One summer day, Ren meets Luna at a beachside basketball court and a friendship is born. But when Luna moves to back to Oahu, Ren's messages to her friend go unanswered. Years go by. Then Luna returns, hoping to rekindle their friendship. Ren is hesitant. She's dealing with a lot, including family troubles, dropping grades, and the newly formed women's basketball team at their highschool. With Ren's new friends and Luna all on the basketball team, the lines between their lives on and off the court begin to blur. During their first season, this diverse and endearing group of teens are challenged in ways that make them reevaluate just who and how they trust. Sloane Leong's evocative storytelling about the lives of these young women is an ode to the dynamic nature of friendship.

Reviews

The pages' shifting layout maintains a dynamic pace while the artwork conveys the intense--often conflicting--emotions inherent to adolescence and young adulthood. Leong concludes with a tribute to the inner light of her characters and to the power of friendship.--Kirkus

Extraordinary tension is created just through Leong's use of color, which shifts between unexpected and often intense color schemes that infuse skin color, backgrounds, and even the gutters with raw emotion.--Booklist

Leong offers an intricate exploration of camaraderie, teamwork, friendship, and expression with a BIPOC cast of characters... A vivid explosion of color, this tale shines.--School Library Journal

Leong elevates the classic ragtag-sports-team narrative by giving her characters grit and gravitas, and rendering their world of malls, convenience stores, and slumping apartment buildings in brilliant reds and purples.--Publisher's Weekly

Leong has a great ear for teen dialogue, but her specialty is creating a mood that puts the reader inside the characters' heads... Color is Leong's most powerful tool, and she establishes bold color themes throughout the book that amplify the feeling on the page.--AV Club, a grade A review

Author Bio

Sloane Leong is a self-taught cartoonist, artist and writer of Hawaiian, Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Native American, and European ancestries. Her work aims to connect personally with individuals through storytelling and to cultivate a kinder, more understanding future. She has been self-publishing her own comics since she was sixteen and has done various work for companies like Image Comics, First Second, Top Cow, Cartoon Network, DC, Dark Horse, Boom!, Namco, and BuzzFeed. She is currently living near Portland, Oregon.