by Jen Wang
First Second
8/13/2024, paperback
SKU: 9781250754066
Ash has always felt alone.
Adults ignore the climate crisis. Other kids Ash's age are more interested in pop stars and popularity contests than in fighting for change. Even Ash's family seems to be sleepwalking through life.
The only person who ever seemed to get Ash was their Grandpa Edwin. Before he died, he used to talk about building a secret cabin, deep in the California wilderness. Did he ever build it? What if it's still there, waiting for him to come back...or for Ash to find it? To Ash, that maybe-mythical cabin is starting to feel like the perfect place for a fresh start and an escape from the miserable feeling of alienation that haunts their daily life.
But making the wilds your home isn't easy. And as much as Ash wants to be alone...can they really be happy alone? Can they survive alone?
From New York Times-bestselling author and illustrator Jen Wang comes a singularly affecting story about self-discovery, self-reliance, and the choice to live when it feels like you have no place in the world.
Reviews:
"Wang masterfully adapts this storyline for contemporary audiences, seamlessly weaving questions of identity, gender, race (Ash has Chinese and Irish ancestry), and climate change into this fundamental tale of survival. Searing and radiant." -- Kirkus, starred review
"Wang (Stargazing) delivers a stunning, contemplative wilderness adventure via muted earth-tone watercolors that tackles head-on the present-day experience of living in what often feels like a time of apocalyptic change." -- Publisher's Weekly, starred review
"Ash's Cabin is a beautiful book. Jen Wang does amazing work in deftly contrasting Ash's interior journey in their relationship with a hostile external world. It's a gorgeous meditation on fear, loneliness, and building a place to feel at home in your own heart." -- Trung Le Nguyen, creator of The Magic Fish
About the Author:
Jen Wang is the award-winning NYT Bestselling author and illustrator of several graphic novels for young readers including Stargazing, The Prince and The Dressmaker, In Real Life (co-written with Cory Doctorow), and Koko Be Good. Jen's honors include two Eisner Awards, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Children's Literature Award, and the Fauve d'Angoulême Youth Award. She is based in Los Angeles and is a co-founder and organizer for Comic Arts LA.