OUT THERE

Julia’s father, David, believes he was abducted from their backyard by aliens a few years earlier.

Julia is dealing with the reality that her parents are separated and her dad’s now obsessed with the paranormal. The father-daughter duo are headed to Roswell, New Mexico, for a festival celebrating the anniversary of the famous UFO crash. Thoughtful, self-conscious Julia shares David’s passion, to the perplexity of her overprotective mom and her best friend, Sara, even turning down a trip to Hawaii with Sara’s family in favor of Roswell. Fellow young tourist Josh and his abductee parents give Julia new perspectives on her relationships and the unusual world David has brought her into. Miller paints David and the other abductees with compassion, never judging or pathologizing them even when noting the damage their preoccupations cause their loved ones. Julia’s dad is fun and kind, and she shares good times with him—but he’s also not steadily employed, has abandoned his former hobbies, and forgets things that matter to her. There’s melancholy alongside the cheerful, animated character design and beautiful Southwestern landscapes with their vivid, inky starlit skies and luminous sunrises. The story ultimately doesn’t settle on easy answers when asking what it means to care about someone who believes something that you’re beginning to doubt. Julia and her parents read White; Josh has light brown skin and black hair.

A poignant trip.