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Sweet story about the joys and challenges of friendship, identity, and privilege

Stargazing by Jen Wang

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Stargazing is the most recent graphic novel from Jen Wang of The Prince and the Dressmaker fame.  My 10 year old spotted Stargazing at San Diego Comic Con and we had to bring it home.  She read it in one sitting and then began insisting that I needed to read it.  The Prince and the Dressmaker blew me away so I had high expectations for Stargazing, and Wang did not disappoint.  Once again she explores themes of friendship, identity, and privilege. Christine Hong is Chinese American in a […]

“My whole life is other people deciding what’s acceptable. When I put on a dress, I get to decide what’s silly.”

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

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4.5 stars Official book description: Paris, at the dawn of the modern age:   Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride―or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night he puts on daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the fabulous Lady Crystallia―the hottest fashion icon in the world capital of fashion!   Sebastian’s secret weapon (and best friend) is the brilliant dressmaker Frances―one of only two people who know the […]

Get your head out of the clouds and gaze at this!

Stargazing by Jen Wang

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Stargazing by Jen Wang is not only less controversial than other graphic novels from this publisher (which deal with issues such as transgender, being gay, and bullying) it is less controversial than their other book, Prince and the Dressmaker (known as PATD from now on). In fact, until I read the other books Wang has done, I did not realize PATD was theirs. Once you see that, there are style similarities to Wang’s illustrations, but that where similarities end. The voices of both graphic novels […]

Prince Sebastian would like to introduce you to himself, Lady Crystallia

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

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The Prince and the Dressmaker most likely was pretty cutting-edge when it came out last year. We were started to talk about sexual identity and gender fluidness and the issues that come from that. Using the graphic novel format also is a bit different. But this publishers imprint seems to be the one to go to for cutting-edge stories in this usually more approachable format. However, a year later, having a young man dress in woman’s clothing as sometimes he feels male and sometimes female, […]

Dare to be different and true to yourself

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

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Sebastian is a prince who, when looking in a mirror, sometimes sees a princess instead of a prince.  Sebastian longs to express this other side of himself but is afraid of the resulting reactions, particularly what his parents will think.  Frances is a low level seamstress in a shop.  She has daring fashion designs in her heart but the shop Frances works for does not share her artistic vision. Seeing one of Frances unique designs at a ball sparks an idea in Sebastian, to hire […]

We are never meeting….

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow, Jen Wang

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3.5 Stars After I read the lovely The Prince and the Dressmaker, I went looking for more books by the same author, Jen Wang. I found In Real Life, which she wrote with Cory Doctorow. I really liked his book Little Brother, but I never got around to reading the sequel. I liked this book too, but it was very preachy. The story is about Anda, who spends a lot of her time playing Coarsegold Online, an MMO where she is a badass redheaded fighter. […]



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