Navigating With You incorporates disability awareness, loss, characters of color, and fandom into a charming teen romance. It’s written by Jeremy Whitley and illustrated by Cassio Ribeiro.
Neesha’s parents have split up, so her mother has brought her from New York to Durham, North Carolina, to live in a family home. Gabby’s family has just moved there from Florida after a hurricane. Neesha’s Black, while Gabby’s Latina.
Neesha’s nicely grumpy, wearing a lot of armor due to her cerebral palsy (CP). We meet her giving the racist, sexist, homophobic principal a talking to. She’s pushy, but we also see she’s right; her experience of how others treat her have made her certain of herself and a bit jaded. Gabby, on the other hand, is an outgoing chatterbox who misses the beach and surfing. She’s determined to make friends with Neesha, in spite of her reticence.
The teens bond over a favorite manga series, and I loved the way we get excerpts of it included. Both of them are getting over bad past relationships — Neesha’s a lesbian and Gabby’s bisexual — with controlling partners. Both have their struggles. Obviously, Neesha’s condition affects what she can do, while Gabby has PTSD from the loss of her mother.
There’s so much of their culture in this book, making the two leads well-rounded. Neesha sews clothes and cosplay while Gabby cooks family recipes. The two seek out the out-of-print copies of the manga, creating a book club of two and scoring points based on who finds the next volume. They loved what they read, but neither were able to finish the series, which I could so relate to.
Of course, their quest ends at a comic convention. Along the way, these two young women face the challenges of figuring out when friendship becomes another kind of relationship and how and when to be honest with each other.
There’s a lot going on in Navigating With You, and I enjoyed all the time I spent with these two, rooting for them all the way.
English (US) · 