Little Moons - Jen Storm - ★★

AUTHOR: Jen Storm

ILLUSTRATOR: Ryan Howe

GENRE: YA Graphic Novel

PUBLICATION DATE: September 3, 2024

RATING: 2 stars.

In a Nutshell: A YA graphic novel about an Ojibwe family trying to navigate life after a tragedy. Had great potential, but couldn’t capitalize on it. I appreciate the intent, but the execution felt a bit cluttered and half-baked. The ending could go either way for readers. Not a happy story.

Plot Preview:

Ever since Reanna’s sister Chelsea went missing after school, her family hasn’t been the same. Struggling to find closure, each member copes in a different way, with some drifting apart and some coming closer, some seeking a change and some finding comfort in the old and familiar.

The story comes to us mostly in Reanna’s third-person perspective.

I admire the theme of this book. Attempting to highlight the difficult topic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) deserves applause. However, the execution of the theme didn’t work that well for me. The key problem is that the book leaves many things unsaid, and I am not talking just about the unresolved ending.

For one, this graphic novel is only 64 pages long – far too short to do proper justice to the topic. A few of the pages don’t even have any text, so the book goes by even faster.

We barely get to know any of the family members well, so there’s no way to understand why they behave the way they do. The mother’s character is the toughest to connect to, given that her actions seem the most drastic. Of course, everyone mourns differently, but as her behavior goes against most expectations of how mothers typically grieve and her emotions are barely mentioned, it is challenging to relate to her. I liked the portrayal of their father better, but there was much too less of him in the story.

I wish I could feel the family’s grief about Chelsea’s loss more. Reanna’s emotions are the only dominant ones on page. Then again, her pain is less about Chelsea’s loss and more about her mother’s decision to move to a new house in town and get a new life. This totally changes the track of the narrative. Given the blurb, I expected the main focus to be on MMIW, but that seems sidelined for the most part.

The passage of time is also not always clearly indicated, condensing weeks and months into immediate sequence without any time indicator. As such, it is tough to figure out how long after Chelsea’s disappearance the various events occur.

I wanted more of the titular “little moons”, but it takes ages for the book to even mention them, forget about indicating what they are. We barely get a glimpse of them in the whole story. The cover art is also merely decorative; such a scene doesn’t exist in the book at all. Given the significance of this concept, the moons should have been better explored in the narrative. There are tiny hints of the paranormal, but these stay just at that level.

The book highlights the mourning/death traditions of the Ojibwe. As in, it shows some of the indigenous rituals but without indicating what they mean (with just one exception). I never understood the significance of Reanna’s initial tradition seeking Chelsea. Even the significance of the beading craft, though highlighted multiple times, isn’t properly detailed. Indigenous people are traditionally community-oriented, but we don’t even get much sense of a community here except for one teeny powwow scene. I wish the book had offered some more info on Ojibwe culture and rituals, at least through a parting note. Non-native readers would have benefited from such elaborations.

Given how the book begins directly in the midst of a family conversation, it takes a while to recognize who’s who. This isn’t helped by the art style, whereby all the women of the family (except the grandma) look more or less the same age. In fact, Reanna looks older than her mom in most panels. That said, I do love that Reanna isn’t sketched like a typical teen with a thin figure and an attractive face. (This is a tiny victory, given how Chelsea and their mother are both sketched the usual tall-thin-stunning way.)

The ending also falls in the same pattern, given that it leaves a key event unresolved. However, this is the only incomplete content I can actually forgive (somewhat.) The author’s note clarifies her reasons for this and I am in sync with it, though I wish we had received some answers given that the book aims at YAs.

The only thing the book handles quite successfully is the portrayal of white ignorance about indigenous people and their customs.

I appreciate the content warning at the start and even more, the author’s note at the end.

Overall, this graphic novel has its heart in the right place, but by trying to cram too much into a few pages, it ends up doing no justice to most of its subplots. Having about 50 more pages would have resolved many of its issues. I appreciate its highlighting the apathetic attitude of those in power towards MMIW, but I cannot rate a book highly just for its intention. Of course, the book is getting acclaim from other readers, so if you do wish to give it a go, I hope it clicks better for you.