Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children's for the arc!

K. O'Neill is back at it with another cozy graphic novel that is perfect for middle grade and YA readers! This is a beautifully illustrated story about bravery, being yourself, and gender identity.

On the eve of becoming a full ranger, a young ranger-in-training goes too far to prove their prowess, injuring their flying horse. They're assigned something akin to bodyguard duty to a young shepherd, and the two slowly form a friendship over the course of their journeys.

O'Neill's pastoral illustrations complement the slow pace of this story. The characters' emotional journeys reflect the meandering story, and there are no large "aha!" moments, but the story trades on quiet realizations. I enjoyed the characters of Leone and Rowan, but I'm not sure if their stories will stick with me long after closing this book. I enjoyed the self-love and subdued gender explorations.

Would recommend this title to young readers of fantasy, horse-lovers, and music-lovers.

Title: A Song For You and I
Author: K. O‘Neill
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Review: first of all, im obsessed with this authors illustrations and queer/lgbtq representation. the vibes of this graphic novel were pure cozy! i love how Rowen expressed how they wanted their identity to be known was shown that it’s okay to be who you truly want to. Leone and Rowens friendship was cute and grew together through insecurities. this book was a 3 starts but Kes, the flying horse, brought it to a four! ☺️

~Thank you to Netgalley and the author for an E-ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ~

From ‘The Tea Dragon Society’ in the famous Tea Dragon series to Princess Princess Ever After and Aquicorn, Kay O’Neill has been such a huge inspiration! For the LGBTQIAP+ community and the artist/illustrator community both, they have created such a warm and inviting space within their stories and ‘A Song for You and I’ was no different!

It was a lovely story with great representation and great characters. However, it felt a little rushed. There wasn't enough time to really get to know the world the book took place in, but I think maybe since the story and plot didn’t really rely on the world in the background you didn’t really have to understand the setting? Well… that’s not really true either though? Because the entire plot was basically Rowan’s self-discovery and how they learned to fully accept themself. The entire reason behind their discomfort was because of the setting around them and the society they were in.

Hmm… I don’t know. Maybe the world building just wasn’t strong enough, compared to the other stories I’ve read by Kay. I did enjoy it! I always enjoy O’Neill’s works, but it wasn’t exactly my favorite.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 /5 stars

My thanks to Random House Children's and NetGalley for the Digital ARC. This book is expected to be published March 4th, 2025.

Thank you, NetGalley, and the publisher for the ARC. This is my honest review.

A Song for You and I might be my favorite Graphic Novel of 2024. I do have a soft spot for winged horses, but, beyond that, there was something so incredibly beautiful about the journey of finding one's self.

There is a point in the novel where our main character questions whether they are attracted to someone or if the fancy is there because they want to be like that person. This is such a prominent feeling in the queer/trans experience and it made me cry to read it.

I wasn't surprised at all of the softness and emotional context to this story, the exploration of difficult topics in a lighthearted and relatable way for middle grade, as well as adults. This is the same type of beautiful storytelling as O'Neill's other books, The Moth Keeper and The Tea Dragon Society. I am beyond honored to get to read and early copy of a A Song for You and I and I look forward to more from K O'Neill.

✨ Review ✨ A Song for You and I by K. O'Neill

Thanks to Random House Graphic and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

A sweet middle grades graphic novel with queer representation, reminiscent of K. O'Neill's usual cozy fantasy world vibes. Rowan is training as a ranger when she meets a local sheep herder, Leone. Rowan goes to warn Leone of a coming storm, resulting in the injury of her flying horse Kes. As Kes recuperates, Rowan joins Leone in a series of deliveries, slowing down and thinking about life and their growing friendship.

The illustrations are lovely, the vibes are cozy, and the queer representation is fabulous. Rowan considers how they want to be known and it results in a celebration of their identity. A really lovely read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: middle grades graphic novel with queer representation
Setting:
Reminds me of:
Pub Date: March 4, 2025

Read this if you like:
⭕️ cozy fantasy
⭕️ middle grade graphic novels
⭕️ queer identity exploration
⭕️ flying horses

I have read multiple graphic novels by O'Neill and adore their work. This is a beautiful story about finding yourself and being ok with it knowing that the people who care about you will be there and understand. We all make bad choices but owning and making better is what counts. The novel is great way to see one self in the characters or gain a better understanding of those that are different from themselves.

I was gifted a e-ARC from Netgalley for my honest review. I have read some of K. O'Neill earlier works like the Tea Dragon Society and knew her art work was amazing. This book did not disappoint. It gave a vibe of a Studio Ghibli movie with the beautiful meadows of flowers and sheep. In this book we follow a novice ranger by the name of Rose as she tries to navigate through a crossroads of life. She feels the need to prove herself to her mentor and fellow novice rangers. She then meets a young shepherd boy by the name of Leone. At first Rose seems annoyed with Leone but after a storm that damages the area they are put together on various missions. It is then that you find Leone story and like Rose he feels unsure of life. Together they both end up working through things and with encouragement from each other they both end up finding their paths in life. I really enjoyed the story of Rose who later changes her name to Rowan. I think this book will be good for any teen who struggling with insecurities of life.

Another wonderful graphic novel from this author. Beautifully illustrated and written! I’ll forever read anything this author makes.

Pastoral. Calming. Lightly fantastical. Queer/Non-binary. A beautifully illustrated story about accepting yourself as you are and finding purpose and joy in your life.

I have loved K. O'Neill's other stories (Aquicorn Cove, Tea Dragon Society) and this one is equally beautiful in it's illustrations. The story is somewhat sparse with several pages being illustration only. K. O'Neill does a great job, though, of still moving the story along and capturing the characters' emotions without words.

This isn't my favorite K. O'Neill story that I've read, but it's still an enjoyable read, and I'm happy for the queer / non-binary representation in this. Personally, I wanted more from the story and more information on being a ranger. This felt a bit too sparse for me in terms of detail, but the emotions and character growth/arcs were well executed.

I'd recommend this to fans of K. O'Neill's previous books or if you're a fan of illustration-heavy graphic novels. If you like light fantasy, pastoral settings, stories about finding yourself, etc., then I think you'd enjoy this.

3.75
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this.

A sweet little book. Not one of my favorites by O'Neill but they're always an auto-read for me and this one didn't disappoint.

5 stars!

K O’Neill’s books are always a delight and so gorgeous. Another graphic novel that I wished I could have read as a child as it’s what I needed back then. I am glad children will have books like this to read.

I became a K. O’Neill fan over this summer through The Tea Dragon Society, and A Song for You and I absolutely lived up to my expectations. I love O’Neill’s colorful, gentle illustrations and cozy stories of friendship and self-realization, and this book is exactly that without ever feeling cliché or boring. This gentle, soaring tale of self-realization and discovery, and the struggle that comes when finally reaching a lengthy goal, hits perfectly, and the genderqueer identities of both Rowan and Leonne—as well as their developing friendship—formed such a strong emotional core to this story. This book truly feels like a warm, comforting hug. The atmosphere and worldbuilding are spot-on, and I felt like I was alongside the protagonists as they walked through this adventure.
Highly recommended!

I love everything K.O'Neill writes and illustrates. A Song For You and I is such a lovely graphic novel about self discovery. It was beautifully illustrated. I love it so much. I can't wait to add it to my library. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's | Random House Graphic for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I'll post my review closer to the publication date.

Similar to the author’s other works (The Tea Dragon Society, Princess Ever After), this graphic novel is so lovely, sweet, and calm! The illustrations were outstanding, and I loved the slow pacing. The main character goes through some great growth, and I appreciated their relationships to the people around them. An absolutely lovely queer graphic novel!

🌈Queer rep: nonbinary main character. NB/M main pairing. Secondary FF couple.

Every time I pick up a graphic novel by K. O’Neill I go and expecting beautiful artwork and a cute, fun story and then I end up sobbing my way through the end. You’d think that by now I would’ve learned better and would be going in prepared. But you would be wrong. At least the art is beautiful.

A song for you and I is about two kids who are trying to find their place in the world. Sometimes in order to embrace who you are, you need someone to believe in you first and grant you the courage to be yourself. This is a story about friendship and acceptance. It also has winged horses which you can never go wrong with.

This book was like a warm hug. I highly recommend it to anyone with kids in their life who are questioning their identity or knows someone who is. So basically every kid.

Overall I loved everything about this and I cannot wait to see it on my shelves. Thank you, Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy!

While I typically enjoy K. O'Neills work,I found this story to be a bit bland. As usual I love the art style and colors a lot, but we’re not told much about the characters and it makes it hard to form any connection to them. The ending was very abrupt and left me feeling incomplete.

I do want to thank NetGalley and the publishers for giving me this arc in exchange for my honest review.

One of my favorite author/illustrators of all time! I cannot recommend their books highly enough. I love everything about everything I have ever read from them and this graphic novel is no exception. Absolutely delightful from cover to cover.

This novel did give me some D&D vibes with a ranger type character with a flying horse and a shy bard character. Their friendship brought a smile to my face... especially the twist at the end. If you need a magical escape with beautifully illustrated pages, this is it!

A Song for You and I is a cute and fast readjng history about self-discovery in a fantasy world. The illustrations were so pretty to look at and the pace is easy to keep track of.

The only problem that i had was that it was too short, i would have loved to see more about the inbetween of the two last parts and the journey of both characters.

Beside that, i loved the theme, it was very simple to understand without naming explicitly what was going on and the characters are lovable.

Overall an amazing read.

11/04/2024 || A Song for You and I by K. O'Neill || #ASongforYouandI #NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley, K. O'Neill, and Random House Children's | Random House Graphic for making this e-ARC available!

Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author and myself.
All of my thoughts are my own~

5 Stars

Honestly, K. O'Neill's books never, ever miss! From the story to the illustrations, I always enjoy O'Neill's works to the fullest! This one made me cry and yearn for more of the story of Rowan, Leone, and Kes - and all their other friends/characters.

K. O'Neill once again has created a story full of self discover, self love, love of community and friends and found family, respect, and kindness.
Rowan's story touched my heart! There are so many gorgeous environment illustrations to enjoy, the different transition pages with illustrations, and the general plot line were all just so well done. I really liked the character development as well.