Are You Listening?

June 3, 2019
Running from her home in small-town Texas, 18-year-old Bea meets Lou, who is taking a road trip to escape her grief after losing her mother. A short lift turns into a longer journey when they find a lost cat and decide to return it to its home. As they search the empty miles of Texas for a town that may not exist, the road takes them to increasingly strange places, and menacing strangers begin following them on a hunt for the cat. And as the two gradually grow to trust one another, Bea conveys her reason for running away: sexual assault by a family member. This latest by Walden (On a Sunbeam) uses heavily detailed illustrations and luminous, startling color to depict both surreal landscapes and subtle expressions, imbuing the story with equal parts paranoid tension and quiet wonder. The tale’s fantastic elements are a mixed success; some moments feel effectively executed (a claustrophobically cluttered gas station, roads and bridges that contort in impossible ways), while others feel awkwardly made to fit (menacing but extraneous villains, the cat’s hidden powers). Ultimately, the volume is most successful as a nuanced portrayal of the connection between Bea and Lou, nearly a decade apart in age but young and gay and navigating trauma and loss in rural Texas. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 14–up. Agent: Seth Fishman, the Gernert Company.

July 15, 2019
Two women on the run from their pasts travel across west Texas. Eighteen-year-old Bea runs away from home without a plan except escaping--until she crosses paths with 27-year-old Lou at a gas station on the way out of town. They share the same need to get away from all the people they know. Together, they embark on a road trip to Lou's great-aunt's house in San Angelo and then to return a lost cat to a mysterious town called West. However, the dark and foreboding Office of Road Inquiry pursues them in search of the cat in their possession. Walden (On a Sunbeam, 2018, etc.) crafts a story rich in metaphor about two gay women on a journey through trauma and grief. The unpredictable, shifting landscape in which lakes appear and roads change course encapsulates the treacherous and nonlinear path of healing. Complex panel layouts in dark tones and moody reds often bleed together, and stretches of silent art fit the heaviness of the tone. Background characters whose eyes are hidden add to the rising sense of anxiety throughout the story. In the midst of this intense atmosphere, Lou and Bea develop a moving bond and deep trust that allow Bea to open up to Lou. The resolution offers hope that both characters will continue to heal. Characters appear to be white. A tsunami of emotions--sharp and heavy. (Graphic novel. 14-adult)

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September 1, 2019

Gr 9 Up-"When something horrible happens, or something amazing...it makes you feel like mountains could shatter, or the sky could disappear." Eighteen-year-old Bea is on the run. Life at home has become more dangerous than attempting to make it in the world alone. After missing her bus, she is connected with Lou, a family acquaintance who invites Bea to hitch a ride with her out of town. Inside the intimate confines of Lou's car, the tension between the two is palpable, as neither wishes to explain her reasons for leaving town. But they soon discover a lost cat and resolve to return it home to a town in Texas that isn't on the map. As the two travel across the mystical landscape of West Texas, truths as harsh and stark as the Texas terrain come to light. Walden deftly explores weighty subjects within the deceptively simple road trip narrative; Bea's experiences with sexual assault by a family member are revealed, with Walden's surreal artwork and lettering reflecting Bea's distraught, disoriented feelings. VERDICT While the story suffers from inconsistent pacing heightened by the ambiguity of both characters' backstories, the combination of real-life trauma with magical realism makes this tale of queer friendship, healing, and rebuilding in the wake of pain and anguish an important addition to collections.-Elise Martinez, Zion-Benton Public Library, IL

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2019
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Bea, 18, and Lou, 27, are both on the run in Texas, though in very different ways, and a chance meeting at a gas station brings their paths together in ways that help them both. At first, there's tension between the two young women, but when they rescue a cat and set out to return it home, to a town they can't find on the map, they gradually begin to trust each other. Walden (On a Sunbeam, 2018) is up to her usual visual tricks in her latest, with intriguingly layered, intricately detailed images in rich, warm, sunset colors that lack concrete realism but cultivate powerful atmosphere. As the days of the road trip muddle together, her panel borders melt, shatter, and blend together, disrupting the sense of time passing, and when odd events begin to trickle in?like the pair of empty-eyed road inspectors unusually curious about the cat, and roads that appear or disappear in a flash?that disrupted sense of reality takes on ever more meaning. For all its fantasy trappings, there's a moving story of recovery and resilience here, as well: Bea in particular is searching for a safe place to call home, and the visual metaphor of building a road when you need one is particularly resonant. This artful, introspective graphic novel will likely be a hit with fans of weird fiction and could be a good crossover pick for new adults, too.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2019
Walden (Spinning; On a Sunbeam) crafts another powerful graphic novel exploring trauma, identity, and chosen family. Eighteen-year-old Bea and adult acquaintance Lou are unlikely companions on a road trip through Texas. Both are gay, and both are escaping something: Bea, sexual abuse by a cousin; Lou, grief following her mother's death. As the surroundings become increasingly surreal, the expressive, richly hued, dynamic panel illustrations reflect the pair's growing fear, anger, and developing closeness.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2019
Walden (Spinning, rev. 11/17; On a Sunbeam, rev. 11/18) crafts another powerful graphic novel exploring themes of trauma, healing, identity, and chosen family. Eighteen-year-old Bea and her adult acquaintance Lou find themselves unlikely companions on a road trip through Texas. They have two things in common: both are gay, and neither is going somewhere so much as escaping something. Bea is fleeing sexual abuse by a cousin and the shame that has prevented her from telling anyone; Lou is avoiding dealing with her grief following her mother's death. Expressive, richly hued, dynamic panel illustrations communicate the closeness developing between them. Then Bea finds a lost cat whose ID tag bears an address in "West, West Texas." She names the cat Diamond, and insists they deliver her home. Up to this point the trip has been filled with sweet vignettes of Lou and Bea sharing their stories and working on Bea's driving skills; but unease builds as the trio sets out for West and their surroundings become increasingly surreal. Snow falls heavily; roads appear and disappear. There's something off about the locals-who imply that the town exists only some of the time. Most unsettling are the menacing "Road Inquiry" officers who have an aggressive interest in the cat ("that is one fine kitty you've got there"). Lou's fierce protectiveness of Bea parallels Bea's of Diamond; their growing fear and anger are reflected in a darkened palette and distorted figures, panel frames, and speech bubbles. But like the illustrations, the protagonists' reality is shaped by their emotions, and by book's end each has had space to process some of her pain. Katie Bircher

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)