Thank you to Second Story Press / Edelweiss for a copy of Wish Upon a Satellite in exchange for an honest review.
Summary
Ciel and their friends are back in this new book for teens as they deal with the difficulties of growing up and dating, not to mention keeping up at school.
The glaciers are melting and the climate crisis is on their mind, but nothing shakes the foundations of non-binary teen Ciel’s world more than sharing an unexpected kiss with their best friend, Stephie. Everything they thought was clear is suddenly all mixed up — and that’s without the new problems at school: sexting, peer pressure, and overdue book reports. (- from the publisher)
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Teens, eh?
Though Wish Upon a Satellite is her first YA novel, Sophie Labelle is already a celebrated cartoonist and author. She’s already introduced Ciel and their friends to readers in her Assigned Male comics and the books Ciel and Ciel in All Directions.
You certainly don’t need to have read any of Labelle’s work featuring Ciel to follow this one, as those stories took place in middle school, and her characters are now firmly in high school. Wish Upon a Satellite functions wonderfully as a standalone.
Ciel is so darn relatable, I wanted to move to Canada to be their friend, but then I remembered they’re not real. Their chaotic bi energy and confusion between what’s a crush and what’s friendship are #relatable. I love that Ciel makes “poor” romantic choices just because they’re sad and wanna get some.
Also, the trans representation here is just great. Three of the main characters, including Ciel, are trans!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CcrGICLFWav/
Slice of life
Life is complicated and messy. And sometimes, the only point to life is living it. In some ways, Wish Upon a Satellite felt like an episode in the middle of a TV season, not in terms of intelligibility but pacing. That’s not going to work for everyone.
Me? I ate it up. Give me interesting enough characters, and I’ll read about them watching paint dry. Wish Upon a Satellite meanders, wandering through hangouts and dates as Ciel works out who and what they want. But, Labelle asks, does knowing your desires mean they’ll be fulfilled?
Look, there’s very queer-specific stuff here, and some is specifically traumatic. However, this is a decidedly not-traumatic book. It’s refreshing to read something so low-stakes about a group of queer kids. Like, phew, we can finally take a load off.
Oh, Canada 🇨🇦
Wish Upon a Satellite takes place in Montréal, Québec, Canada. I realized about halfway through the book that the characters are all speaking French even though we’re reading in English.
It will never not be wild to me how different Canada and the United States are. Ciel’s world is one where baklava is made with maple syrup, the Boy Scouts isn’t full of raging homophobes and young kids are free to roam around the city at all hours of the night. Am I jealous? Maybe.
Canucks certainly have their brand of humor (or humour, if you will). Labelle is in no short supply of her quirky comedic sense that will work for fans of anything on the CBC.
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Should you read it?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and despite being slice-of-life, it’s not slow. But, if you need something super plot-heavy, Wish Upon a Satellite might not be your cup of tea. If you want a cozy comfort read about trans friends just living the minutiae of life, then give this one a read. Trans friends! Just hanging out! Not dying! ❤️
Content warnings: bullying, misgendering, outing, sexual assault (non-consensual sharing of photos). There is a strange subplot (if you can call it that) where cub scout leaders were all named after Jungle Book characters, and even if not flat-out racist, it toed the line.
Wish Upon a Satellite is out May 3, 2022. Pick up a copy at your local indie bookstore or library! 📚
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/queer-tested-teacher-approved-nonbinary-characters/
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