Just last week, Laura Lee Gulledge published her third graphic novel and solidified her place as one of my favorite author illustrators. Let me take you back to my obsession with 2011 publication of Page by Paige which I talked about in 2016 after finishing it to which I turned around and shared it with several students immediately who loved it as much as I did.

Fast forward to 2020 and my digital reading of The Dark Matter of Mona Starr which I had on my TBR on Goodreads since it was announced she’d be releasing a new graphic novel. Then boom. I sat down and in one sitting didn’t move an inch while I poured over the illustrations and words. I knew I’d be writing about it. My initial reviews always go up on Goodreads which are usually fresh and raw after reading (and as soon as I can string a somewhat coherent sentence together after being awestruck) and in that review I said that I needed Gulledge to do a series focused on female character struggles that can be used as guides just as both of these are.

Mona Starr is the protagonist and certainly the book’s most memorable character. She has depression and anxiety, using space imagery to work through verbalizing her issues because she refers to this internal messaging as her matter. There are psychological and medical professionals working with her and her parents to identify what Mona needs providing much needed help after her best friend moves away. Then Mona befriends a new girl that’s causing rise to additional anxiety too.

It’s hard to pin down any one memorable scene but I’ll share one specific page that provides all you need to know about how Gulledge creates magic on the page graphically. And I won’t even explain it because I don’t have to. Because she doesn’t have to.

It’s the transportation of any reader in the heart, mind, and soul of the character and just the kind of experience that we want when we read anyway– it’s that Gulledge does it better. Every. Darn. Time. From reading the Author’s Note, Gulledge shares her own doubts about her creative energy while managing stressful situations leading to memorable quotes like this to provide inspiration amidst anguish and a definite contender for one of the strongest YA graphic novels of 2020, hands-down.

This time around I’m going to take care of this freckled potbellied imperfect weirdo overly sensitive body of mine… hang up my hangups. And shed my excuses. Because I want to actually LIVE this life.

The graphic novel is much more than words on a page and more than the illustrations too, it’s a feeling and a whole mood she can sweep me up in anytime. I advise everyone to get themselves a copy or three to read and share. But spend as much time as you need, with a cup of tea or chocolate or in the bathtub or on the blanket in the backyard, folded up in the story that Gulledge shares of Mona Starr. It feels like a personal invitation to look inside yourself and empathize with others. Then once you’re finished with all of those feelings, check out Gulledge’s website and her other work.