LU AND REN’S GUIDE TO GEOZOOLOGY

Two friends follow an old journal to find one girl’s missing grandmother.

Lu loves hearing her geozoologist grandmother Ah-ma’s stories about her adventures and work with creatures like the mossbear and stonefowl. Lu wants to accompany her on her next expedition, but Ah-ma says she’s too young. As time passes and Ah-ma’s letters stop coming, Lu becomes determined to find her. She’s sure she can discover clues to Ah-ma’s whereabouts in her old travel journal. But the journal is written in Cylian, and Lu can’t read the characters fluently. One day, her childhood friend Ren appears in the neighborhood, and the two decide to travel together to find Ah-ma. Along the way, they meet some of Ah-ma’s friends and encounter the wonders Ah-ma taught Lu about. But trouble looms as Ren keeps big secrets, and Lu struggles with revelations about her grandmother’s past. This full-color graphic novel is a beautiful story of family and friendship set in a fantasy world that cleverly combines geology and zoology. The two girls grapple with familial issues connected to expectations, language barriers, and loss. Lu, Ren, and their families speak Lirrish and Cylian, corollaries of English and Mandarin Chinese, respectively; differently colored fonts indicate which language they’re using. Lu has dark brown skin and black hair, and Ren has lighter brown skin and black hair.

A charming story of relationships and fantastical discoveries.