Long Distance

by Whitney Gardner, Whitney Gardner (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

When Vega’s parents move her from Portland to Seattle and enroll her in a space-themed summer camp, all she wants is her old life back. However, she ends up getting much more than she bargained for — in the form of some out-of-this world adventures. This sweet and fun graphic novel is perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier.

From the creator of Fake Blood comes another exceptionally charming middle grade graphic novel about friendships both near and far, far away.

Vega’s summer vacation is not going well.

When her parents decide it’s time to pack up and leave her hometown of Portland, Oregon, behind for boring Seattle, Washington, Vega is more than upset—she’s downright miserable. Forced to leave her one and only best friend, Halley, behind, Vega is convinced she’ll never make another friend again.

To help her settle into her new life in Seattle, her parents send Vega off to summer camp to make new friends. Except Vega is determined to get her old life back. But when her cellphone unexpectedly calls it quits and things at camp start getting stranger and stranger, Vega has no choice but to team up with her bunkmates to figure out what’s going on!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534455658
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	06/29/2021
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	296,263
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	HL240L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 18 Years

About the Author

Whitney Gardner is an author, illustrator, and cartoonist. She started drawing stick figures in second grade and somehow no one’s been able to stop her. If there’s ever a moment when she isn’t drawing, she’s likely to be found rolling twenty-sided dice. Her favorite color is yellow. She is the author of the YA novels You’re Welcome, Universe and Chaotic Good, as well as the creator of Fake Blood and Long Distance and the illustrator for Debbie Levy’s Becoming RBG and Stephanie Cooke’s The Racc Pack series.

Whitney Gardner is an author, illustrator, and cartoonist. She started drawing stick figures in second grade and somehow no one’s been able to stop her. If there’s ever a moment when she isn’t drawing, she’s likely to be found rolling twenty-sided dice. Her favorite color is yellow. She is the author of the YA novels You’re Welcome, Universe and Chaotic Good, as well as the creator of Fake Blood and Long Distance and the illustrator for Debbie Levy’s Becoming RBG and Stephanie Cooke’s The Racc Pack series.

Editorial Reviews

"This recalls Gardner’s Fake Blood but with supernatural elements replaced by intergalactic ones, and the satisfying blend of relatable angst and kooky weirdness will make this a winner."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

10/08/2021

Gr 4–7—When one of Vega's dads gets a new job in Seattle, they have to move—which means leaving Vega's home and best friend. To help her adjust, Vega's dads enroll her in Camp Very Best Friend, described as the perfect place for introverted Seattle area children to meet other kids. Vega and campers Qwerty, Isaac, and Gemma start to notice strange things about the camp. Even though they're in the woods, there are no animals anywhere, and because of all the clouds, they never see the sky. The counselors seem robotic and keep pushing one camper, George, to be the kids' new friend. Suspicious, Vega and her friends try to figure out what's going on, and they uncover a huge secret. This tale of friendship and loneliness reflects many middle schoolers' social anxiety. The cartoon art is colorful and appealing, and expressive faces and background details add depth to the characters. Information about the kids' interest in astronomy, geology, and electronics is a plus. Depictions of Pike Place Market, the public library, and other Seattle landmarks bring the story to life. Vega and her dads are Latinx, Isaac and Gemma are brown-skinned; Qwerty is Asian American, and George is white. VERDICT Middle schoolers will enjoy this light-handed guide to navigating friendship.—Carla Riemer, Berkeley, CA

School Library Journal

05/31/2021

Astronomy-loving Vega, a light brown–skinned girl, is uninterested in making new friends when she moves to Seattle with her two fathers for one dad’s new tech job. Instead, Vega’s determined to stay in touch with her best friend Halley, a bespectacled white girl back in Portland. But when Halley falls off the grid right before Vega’s dads ship her off to Camp Very Best Friend, Vega struggles with feelings of friendlessness in a new place. Her Black bunkmate, rock-loving Gemma, already has a “built-in BFF” in her twin Isaac, leaving Vega with chatty computer geek Qwerty, cued Vietnamese, and peculiar blond white kid George, adored by a cadre of overly enthusiastic counselors. When Vega, Gemma, Isaac, and Qwerty discover a pine cone that is actually a high-tech speaker, it becomes clear there’s something quite strange about camp. Boldly colored, expressive digital illustrations by Gardner (Becoming RBG) particularly stand out when depicting holographic bears and special camp vans; helpful inset diagrams throughout offer information on scientific concepts and instruments. This delightful, oft-comedic graphic novel injects familiar themes with ample imagination, as Vega and campmates learn that “Friendship is a renewable resource.” Final art not seen by PW. Ages 10–up. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"This recalls Gardner’s Fake Blood but with supernatural elements replaced by intergalactic ones, and the satisfying blend of relatable angst and kooky weirdness will make this a winner."

BCCB

2021-04-30
After moving to a new city, a girl attends a wilderness camp to help her make new friends.

When astronomy-obsessed 9-year-old Vega’s dad Wes gets a new job, the family moves from Portland to Seattle. Vega is not happy about this change and doesn’t want to leave her best friend behind, worrying they will grow apart. Vega’s dad Javi thinks making new friends will help her adjust, so he signs her up for Camp Very Best Friend, which is designed to help introverted local children build new friendships. Vega is not exactly eager to go but makes a deal with Wes, agreeing to try out camp as long as he tries to make a new friend too. It quickly becomes clear that this is no ordinary outdoor adventure, and Vega and her fellow campers try to figure out what is really going on. The story smoothly incorporates STEM facts with insets on the page to define and highlight terms or tools. An unexpected twist toward the end of this fast-paced adventure that reveals the truth behind the camp will surprise readers. The clean, bright artwork is enhanced by panels of varying shapes and clear, easy-to-follow speech bubbles. Race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation are not explicitly addressed; characters’ names and physical appearances indicate a broadly diverse cast starting with brown-skinned Vega and her two dads.

A classic story of outsiders making friends—with a little something more. (Graphic fiction. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews