Maisie and her mum are heading to Maisie’s first-ever fan convention, where Maisie hopes to meet her hero, an amputee actor, who plays a kick-arse character in her favourite show. As much as Maisie is excited to be at the fancon, it is also exhausting and overwhelming. However, she then meets Ollie, who is a cute volunteer at the con. Will this be the start of something new?
Jessica Walton is a proud disabled and queer author who has written a beautiful story, where disabilities and identities have been explored, allowing individuals to find themselves represented in a positive way. This has been paired with the stunning illustrations by Aśka, which complement the story, capturing the atmosphere that the convention holds.
I really enjoyed Stars in Their Eyes, a graphic novel filled with soft-hearted moments, along with the characters ‘nerding out’, which is something which I personally relate to. I find disability representation all too rare in YA fiction, so this book really reinforced the value of this. Furthermore, I also liked how Walton chose to have various queer identities represented in the novel, which really shows the importance of the inclusivity of identities outside of cisgender and heterosexuals in media.
Overall, I fell in love with the characters and each of their own stories that Walton created, I was just left craving more at the end.
Reviewed by Beth
Cerdon College, Merrylands NSW
Age Guide 12+
ABOUT JESSICA WALTON
Jessica Walton is a queer, disabled writer and speaker. They co-wrote an episode of Get Krack!n focused on disability, which aired on ABC in 2019. They are the author of graphic novel Stars In Their Eyes, with artwork by Aśka and Introducing Teddy, illustrated by Dougal MacPherson . Jess also has two short stories for teens and kids published in Australian anthologies Funny Bones and Meet Me at the Intersection , as well as poetry in a few anthologies, magazines and journals.
ABOUT ASKA
Aśka is creative dynamite. She’s an award-winning graphic novelist, an ex-quantum physicist, and a big fan of the little doovalacky above the ‘s’ in her name (which you pronounce ‘Ash-ka’).
A hugely engaging and popular presenter, Aśka is passionate about visual literacy. She has published more than ten books and graphic novels. Her recent titles include the CBCA Notable (2022) YA graphic novel Stars in Their Eyes, which was bought by Scholastic US in 2022. Stars in Their Eyeshas also been nominated for the 2022 Comic Arts Awards of Australia and the 2022 ALIA Graphic Novel of the Year and made the ALIA Graphic Novel Notable List (2021). She is also a recipient of several government Arts grants, prizes, and the May Gibbs Fellowship.
Aśka has been a judge for the Make Your Own Storybook Competition five years running, is an organising committee member for the Perth Comic Arts Festival, contributes regularly to The School Magazine, volunteered as Illustrator Co-ordinator in the WA branch of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators for four years, has singlehandedly run an animation festival, once won a grant for a solo art exhibition, and has been featured in an ABC TV documentary.
When she’s not creating children’s books, Aśka is travelling across Western Australia as a roving science communicator.
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