Sadly, this book was not for me. On one hand, I think the message was very important and could be a good book for someone struggling with the same things as the MC. It dealt heavily with addiction as the MC came to terms with understanding their gender identity. I liked the watercolor style of the artwork, but a lot of the characters and settings weren't very distinct.

So, overall, this graphic novel wasn't my cup of tea, but I think it could be the perfect book for someone else.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I had high hopes for this graphic novel featuring a trans teen navigating addiction with the support of a found family, but unfortunately, it fell short of my expectations. Claire's gender identity was seen as the root of their addiction but it was depicted in a confusing way where in the beginning it was unclear if they were assigned female or male at birth.

Although the gender identity issue was minor, the book's other aspects were disappointing. The plot was lacking, with most of the story revolving around Claire's therapy sessions, leaving little room for character interactions or development. The it read more like a self-help book than a fictional story. The art style was a bit strange, the characters were too similar to each other. I was confused several times about Claire or another boy. I did appreciate the doodles making the art style more unique.

Thanks to Netgalley for the e-arc!

Claire is a non-binary (or at least, that's what I got) teenager who has turned to alcohol to help deal with the difficulties of life. Claire is always asked whether they are supposed to be a boy or a girl and in a small town with many bigots, it's no wonder Claire turned to substance abuse. Claire is sent to teen rehab and meets a group of similar teens with addiction problems and with the help of counselor Charlie, starts to address their problems and begins to make friends with the other teens.

At this point, the living as a non-binary teen becomes sort of a side story. Like, it becomes just the catalyst for the many other problems that Claire is having. I spent much of the book being confused about what was going on, but that may just be because of the art style. There was A LOT going on and the art isn't the clean art that I usually prefer. The highlight of the book in my opinion was Charlie who had some great lessons to impart. One that was poignant was during one of Charlie's group sessions, Charlie addressed Claire's question as to why people have a problem with their not being one gender and his metaphor was very apt which I liked. Other than that, I felt like the book was confusing and just plain depressing. I get that life isn't always cut and dry and happily ever after, but I did need some chocolate afterwards.

Went reading this without context or anything.

The whole journey of Claire is very enlightening and also saddening—from finding themselves to understanding that not everyone can stand in your shoe and understand what you're experiencing but there are people who, although don't really understand still chose to be there for you (all people should have Greg in their life). The comic points out that ignorance is dangerous and people, like Claire, are unique and

For me, the constellation is Claire and her potential as a whole person, and the black hole portrays the feeling of overwhelm and wanting to escape, which in this comic shows Claire's reliance to alcohol and recreational dr*gs

Although the comic is fun, it is kinda overwhelming for me especially because Claire's internal monologue and dialogue itself is quiet confusing at times.

Overall it was a fun, quick read.

✨ SPOILER ALERT ✨

I went into reading this almost entirely blind. I had selected it to participate in the trans readathon that is currently going on. I’d seen it recommended by some others on bookstagram and loved the artwork. So I had no expectations, just hope going into this. I enjoyed it. I found it to be thought provoking, and honestly some of the things to be transferable advice from Charlie. I can’t express enough to check the CW/TW for this before reading it due to the topics. I think the story has done a great job showing the process of figuring out who you are and how the way you’re brought up, the people you’re around impacts that. I love the growth from Claire. Charlie’s advice on the problem is the blueprint society builds. I feel like that was one of the most impactful things that I’ve read on this topic. It’s just SO accurate. I hope if people take anything from this, that is the lessons Claire speaks of at the end and the lessons Charlie gives. The author did a wonderful job.

“Are you supposed to be a boy or a girl?”
🙋🏼
Claire is constantly getting asked this question and they don’t know the answer. It’s a struggle everywhere they go to define themselves, even at home. If it wasn’t for their best friend, Greg, who always has their back, Claire would be lost. They also rely on beer to help dull the edges of their life, but when harassment from both students and teachers at school has Claire spiral out of control, they’re order into court-mandated rehab. It’s here they find comfort in hilarious new friends, a patient counselor and people who somewhat get what Claire is going through. As it gets closer to release, they wonder what their life looks like post-rehab.
🙋🏼
Even though this YA graphic novel is set in the 1980s, the themes are very relatable and I know several students who are going through similar issues as the main character. While I liked Claire’s journey to get sober and discover who they are, I was not a fan of the artwork and, at times, found myself confused as to what was happening in the story. I loved the rehab counselor though! What a great mentor for Claire and others! This book releases May 23.

CW: alcoholism, accident, bullying, violence, blood, vomit, transphobia, familial abuse, slurs, death, overdose, drugs, alcohol

Claire just wants to escape from school, weirdness with friends, and everyone's gender expectations. They escape by abusing alcohol. When drinking too much leads to a bike accident, Claire is sent to a recovery center for teens dealing with addictions, all of them trying to escape. Through compassionate, non-judgmental support from the center's counselor, Claire sets their eyes on staying sober and gets closer to knowing who they are.

Loosely based off of author/illustrators own experiences growing up in Troy, New York in the 1980's, this graphic novel is sure to resonate with teens whose problems seem too big, who feel like they are lost at sea. Glasheen's art captures the innocence of a high school sketchbook and elevates it. The stream of consciousness, first-person narration from Claire reminded me of Catcher in the Rye and The Bell Jar. It captures the anger and desperation of a teen who sees the cruelty of the world and feels like they don't belong. Queer teens and adults are bound to relate to Claire.

Recommended for high school and public libraries.

3.25⭐️
For starters: this book is heavy, check the content warnings below.
CW: Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Transphobia, Child Abuse, Death
This is a story about addiction with a subplot about gender identity- NOT the other way around. With that out of the way, after part 1, I enjoyed this graphic novel. This novel brought up a lot of great conversations about addiction, grief, moving on, and figuring out who you are. There were a lot of great themes and lessons in this and I really enjoyed the character Charlie.
Onto the things I didn’t love: Part 1 just felt odd. I think if it was labeled as a prologue, it would make more sense. At that point, the MC is sort of treating their trauma as a joke for a coping mechanism, so the style is exaggerated. I know a lot of people don’t like dark humor as a coping mechanism, so I just wanted to point that out.
The pacing of this novel could be improved. I think if it was lengthened, the time in rehab could be expanded upon, as well as the time after. The after is just really rushed right now, it felt like the conclusion came too soon.
Overall, if you’re in the right headspace to read a heavy book about addiction and self-discovery, this book will be great. If you if you aren’t in a great headspace, you may enjoy something lighter.

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I'm sorry but I didn't like Constellations very much.
Constellations is a story about a nonbinary teenager and their struggles with their family and classmates trying to figure who they really are. I love queer coming of age stories but the art stye of the interior pages makes the story harder to follow. Also a lot of characters have a similar face so I was confused at times.
I guess this comic wasn't for me.

I received a free digital copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a coming-of-gender story about a non-binary teenager using alcohol as a coping mechanism for their struggles with gender identity. The subject of addiction as a result of struggles with one’s own queerness is one that I haven’t seen explored much, so I was really interested in this book.

Unfortunately I found the execution to be quite lacking. A lot of Claire’s time in rehab (the main section of the book) is taken up by therapy sessions which made me feel like I was being spoon-fed Claire’s growth. Being told something rather than shown it is probably the biggest issue I had with the book - I never really felt the closeness that the kids in rehab experienced, I never felt the passing of time - I was just told that all of these things happened. Claire’s feelings about their gender were also barely explored considering that it is a book about the main character’s gender identity. I do think that the topic of addiction was explored well though.

What I liked a lot was the art style and the overall voice of the book. The art style is rough and raw in a very good way that makes it stand out from most comics, and the voice it is narrated in complements this.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review*

Constellations is an important graphic novel to have out in the world. It follows Claire who is questioning whether or not she's a girl, or if she's a boy. Claire also has an addiction to beer, and due to that, is sent to an addiction in-patient centre for teenagers who have addictions.

I found that the drawings in here were pretty, but I didn't really like them. It's a personal thing but I wasn't a biggest fan of the graphics.

I also found that this book might have been better in a novel form instead of graphic novel.

Overall, I did like the questioning that Claire goes through about gender and how they figure out that they are neither a girl nor a boy.

Constellations is an eye opening graphic novel that is set in the 80's and tells us the story of a queer teenager Claire, who is sick of people trying to put them in one box so they turn to drinking and partying to cope with their emotions. This spirals out of control and they end up in court ordered rehab to break their addiction and learn some more positive coping strategies.

I really enjoyed this read as I haven't seen many novels or graphic novels centred around teenage addiction or gender identify set in the 80's, The artwork was a bit different from my usual style of graphic novel and used water colour styling and colour schemes throughout the book.

Some of the characters were a little hard to tell apart and the start of the story was a little hard to follow, but overall I enjoyed learning about the characters journey , especially as the author explained in their note that their own struggles with addiction, rehab and gender inspired Claire's.

Thank you so much to Holiday House Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this e-ARC and the opportunity to read it before it's publish date on the 23rd May 2023.

"Constellations by Kate Glasheen is an honest, compelling and thoughtful portrait of one queer teen's struggle to find their place in the world. Claire's experiences and those of their supportive circle of friends resonates with readers of any age. Through watercolor and ink, Glasheen has crafted an emotive tale of survival, humor and hope in 1980s Troy, New York. Highly recommended!"

This was incredible. It really shines a light on the complexities of being brought up in a specific background, but also having to navigate gender identity within not only that background, but also society as a whole. It also tackles youth addiction really well. I think, at least for me, I haven’t read a whole lot of books that center on teen addiction that also finds itself in recovery like this. As well as the hardships afterward. I think that’s really important to focus on.

The illustrations weren’t my favorite, but the story was fantastic.

Kate Glasheen’s Constellations grabbed me from the very first few pages. Not only are her watercolors stunning, but the story - particularly the scenes set within rehab - is incredibly moving.

Set in the 1980s, this graphic novel tells the story of Claire - a teenager who is still trying to figure out who they are in a world that only sees two boxes: male or female. Unhappiness and frustration leads Claire to drink, which lands them in court-ordered rehab.

The relationships all felt very authentic and the counseling offered by Charlie was on point, and for a variety of kids and situations. This is a very good book, let alone debut.

Thanks to NetGalley and Holiday House for this digital ARC. Constellations will be published on May 23, 2023z

A graphic novel about a trans teen struggling with addiction with found family tropes and wholesome messages? This book was supposed to be right up my alley. Unfortunately, it just fell flat.

I was SUPER confused for the first, like, 20% of the book as to what is going on with Claire’s gender identity. All it says is that she is a girl who looks like a boy, but doesn’t go into detail beyond that. I was having a hard time understanding if Claire was supposed to be trans or not. Based on the “girl who looks like a boy” description, I actually thought that she was a trans girl at first. If it explained in the beginning that Claire was assigned female at birth but enjoyed dressing more “like a boy”, then the book would have been much easier to understand.

That is more or less a pretty minor issue, and I would have been able to overlook that, but basically every aspect of the book also kind of sucked. The plot was pretty much nonexistent. The majority of the book is just Claire’s therapy sessions, and there are very little character interactions or plot developments outside of that. The whole thing felt very preachy, more like you are reading a self help book than a fictional story. Considering this book promises found family tropes, the lack of character development was extremely disappointing.

Finally, the art style. It is… weird at best. The way that characters are shaded makes them look really off, their expressions are unrealistic and flat out creepy sometimes for no reason, and the added in doodles were often distracting from the storyline. Not to mention the fact that most of the characters all look the same. I was having a hard time distinguishing Claire, the literal main character, from the other male characters.

Overall, I was super disappointed in this and I don’t think I could recommend it to anyone.

Thank you to Netgalley and Holiday House for the ARC!

Overall vibes: This graphic novel follows Claire through dealing with homophobia and transphobia that fuels alcoholism, which leads to inpatient addiction treatment. This book does a deep dive into questions of what it means to deal with pain and how we hold onto pain.

Pros:
- The parts in the treatment center were so well done. I loved getting to see all the different people, and their stories were so integral to understanding Claire's path.
- The motif of stars and constellations throughout did an incredible job of weaving throughout the story.
- Seeing this made me realize how different it would've been to be LGBTQ before the prevalence of information on the internet. It made me really consider how isolating that would've been, since, depending on what community you're in, there may have been nobody like you around.

Cons:
-Sometimes it was hard to tell the different characters apart. There were a couple of characters who were all white with short, brown hair, and it made some conversations confusing.

TW for the book: drug use, rehab, death



<i>Constellations</i> is the beautiful (and difficult) story of a young person going through rehab and trying to figure out who they are, eventually learning that those journeys don't end when you leave the centre. The book is full of hope and love, through the bad times and the trauma, without losing any ounce of realism.

Highly recommend, though be mindful of the content warnings.

Thank you NetGalley and Holiday House for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Constellations follows the story of a queer teen in the 80s with an alcohol addiction. This story is so very important to shed light on addictions, alcoholism, homophobia, and the struggles queer people face even today.
The art style of this book was something I really enjoyed, the way Claire's sketches in their notebook show up and tie in to the story, however, at times I felt it hard to tell the difference between some characters because they were drawn very similarly.
Regarding the actual story, at times it felt a little bit like I was being lectured, but that's not necessarily a bad thing since I was learning something about problems that do not affect me. I think this story will appeal to a very specific target audience, but sadly, that does not include me.
All in all, this story is very important and I would recommend this to a very niche target audience, however, I don't think I was one of those people who is included in that niche.

This work was made available to me through NetGalley, Thank you.

The story is set in the 80’s in the state of New York. The main character that we follow is Claire.
Claire is queer, doesn't entirely have the words to describe themselves and is coping with life by partying and drinking with their best friend.
Claire’s use of alcohol spirals and they end up in court mandated rehab.

Before I go into the actual story, let me just say that the artstyle in this one really worked for me, it has the feeling of a sketchbook in some ways and the colors feel slightly muted even when they are in their more colorful parts (I’m not an art critic, can you tell?).

This is a graphic novel divided into six major chapters that give you a strong idea of the content in all of them.

The chapter titles are:
Denial
Acceptance
Boundaries
Relapse
Homecoming
Commencement

Personally I thought that the first and last chapters were not as strong as the middle four.
I have so many quotes that I’ve written down from this work.

I love when a book helps me with putting words to thoughts and feelings that I’ve had and this certainly did that.

I feel like when I read about the book, I expected more of Claire’s friendship with Greg to be on the page but as the majority of the book takes place in rehab that is not the case.
Instead Claire gets put in a space where they are allowed to both make genuine friendships in a less judgemental environment, figuring out their identity, learning to stand up for themselves, and figuring out life.
Seeing the journey was interesting, and I was invested in the other people Claire meets in rehab.

There are a lot of moments where Claire is questioning themselves and where they reflect on their relationships and past of bullying from both teachers, peers and family.

I think for me, the thing I found the most interesting was trying to figure out your queerness without many role models, without the language that many (but not all) have access to now.

I would have loved for this to be slightly longer and gone deeper in some areas, the ending in particular felt a bit rushed and unfinished to me.

I don’t share all of Claire’s experiences so I cannot speak for how well the non-binary representation or rehab was handled. But I got the impression that it was done well.

So overall. This is a strong 4 stars for me.

CW: Transphobia, bullying, addiction, abuse, drug use, death