Sloane Leong

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.

A Map to the Sun

Krystyna 

I loved the different characters and their stories. I loved learning about what the characters were going through. I appreciated the discussion of such heavy topics because life is messy and these situations were realistic. I also really enjoyed the color palette. The art was good but sometimes I would get the characters confused because they were drawn kind of similarly. I also wasn't a huge fan of the basketball parts. But, overall, I enjoyed it.

Flavia Louise

This had a great color scheme and I really enjoyed it. I'd loved it if this had been explicitly queer though.

mia ¿

i don't have too much to say about this book. it was good, but not amazing and i probably won't remember much of the story sadly. the art was really cool, as the characters all looked very realistic but the constantly changing color scheme still made each page interesting to look at. the story was ultimately good with a somewhat clear message/theme, but it took me a while to realize where exactly the story was headed. i thought the decision to focus a little bit on each girl from the team was cool, but the book would have benefitted from being divided into multiple sections so that it was clear when the protagonist changed (sometimes it was hard to tell the girls apart). unfortunately, some of the subplots introduced in these sections were not resolved and by the end it felt like ren and luna were the only real main characters, despite what the beginning of the book may have led you to believe. still, i appreciated that the drama in this book felt real and not just dramatic for the sake of it. this was a cute yet dramatic story about a gang of misfits who learn to become better friends and team members after agreeing to join their school's new basketball team. read it if you love sports, or if nothing else, read it for the art and beautiful color scheme.

A Map to the Sun

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