Included the New York Times round-up of "8 Comics to Read This Pride Month"
“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
“Heart-wrenching and powerful, Ash’s Cabin sucked me in and I couldn’t stop until I got to the end. Ash’s story couldn’t be more relevant today. I just loved it.” —Tillie Walden, Eisner Award–winning creator of Spinning
“A fierce and tender story about the lengths you will go to connect in a way that matters, during a time in your life when those connections feel so hard. Timely, empathetic, and masterfully drawn, exactly what Jen Wang has always excelled at.” —Kate Beaton, #1 New York Times–bestselling creator of Hark! A Vagrant and Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands.
"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
"Wang’s emotive, empathic illustrations elevate an already impactful narrative into a stupendous visual masterpiece, with and without panels, swathed in daytime California golds and chillier nighttime blues. Perfection—literary and artistic—awaits here." –Booklist, starred review
"This book is a page-turner and readers will both worry and cheer for Ash every step of the way. Highly recommended for all middle school and high school libraries." –School Library Journal, starred review
"Wang, who has given readers drag queen princes and medical dramas, has developed a story that is adventurous, sensitive, and realistic. Readers of graphic novels, queer fiction, nonfiction, and wilderness stories should all find something to adore here." —Shelf Awareness, starred review
"Beautiful, complex and affirming, Ash’s Cabin will prompt deep conversations about how best to support one another and our environment, at a time when the future is uncertain and peace can be hard to find."
—BookPage, starred review
"Wang communicates with breathless tension the high stakes of solo survival in the Californian wilderness, from foraging mistakes and luckless-to-terrifying altercations with wildlife to big-picture issues of climate crisis that hang like wildfire smoke over the narrative." —BCCB, starred review
"Wang has updated the classic survival story for today’s socially conscious and gender expansive teens with this thoughtfully wrought graphic novel that pays loving homage to treasured titles such as Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain." –Horn Book Magazine
★ 07/01/2024
Gr 7 Up—A riveting story about a trans teen finding their place in the world, which just so happens to be a small cabin in the woods. Sixteen-year-old Ash feels alone in their friendless school days, going home to a family that often uses their dead name. Trying to get away from everything seems like the logical answer, so Ash researches and plans a trip to a remote cabin in the northern California woods. With their dog Chase in tow, Ash tricks their parents in order to get away while they go on a trip, and Ash ends up hiking in the wilderness, looking for a small cabin their grandfather built. Readers are transported to the wilderness as Ash learns that life outside is rough, especially when finding food. Ash is at times discouraged, but an encounter with another person on the run renews their hopes. However, a looming search party and wildfires in the distance threaten everything Ash hopes to achieve. With arresting art and an insightful feel, Wang weaves a story of self-discovery, adventure, survival, and grit. Wang's unique style and art is remarkable, with a beautiful color palette and mix of hard and soft strokes that make readers feel every emotion Ash is dealing with. This book is a page-turner and readers will both worry and cheer for Ash every step of the way. VERDICT Highly recommended for all middle school and high school libraries.—Carol Youssif
★ 2024-05-17
A 15-year-old seeks solace and solitude in the wild.
Ash has always felt like an outsider, and ever since Grandpa Edwin passed away, that feeling of isolation has only gotten worse. Their parents haven’t fully accepted Ash’s recent name change or newly shorn hair, and school isn’t much better. When Ash learns that their family plans to sell Grandpa Edwin’s old ranch, they come up with a plan: to find Grandpa’s secret cabin in the woods and stay there—forever. They earn money, watch online videos to pick up survival skills, and buy food, gear, and supplies. Ash carefully conceals their preparations, and with a little deception and some luck, they finally set off into the Northern California wilderness with their trusty dog, Chase. Told as a series of journal entries, Ash’s first-person narration is punctuated by panels and full-page spreads depicting current and past events in soft, soothing tones against a clean, white background. The conviction and emotions driving Ash’s decision-making process always feel strong and true and are apparent in the effective illustrations and evocative color palette. This story recalls many familiar and beloved tales—a list of further reading and references includes children’s classics such as Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain—which points to the subject matter’s perennial appeal, but 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. (Graphic fiction. 12-18)