Author: Jomny Sun (Jonny Sun)
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Hardcover, 304 Pages
Publication Date: June 27th, 2017
Summary: The illustrated story of a lonely alien sent to observe Earth, where he meets all sorts of creatures with all sorts of perspectives on life, love, and happiness, while learning to feel a little better about himself—based on the enormously popular Twitter account. Here is the unforgettable story of Jomny, an alien sent to study Earth. Always feeling apart, even among his species, Jomny feels at home for the first time among the earthlings he meets. There is a bear tired of other creatures running in fear, an egg struggling to decide what to hatch into, a turtle hiding itself by learning camouflage, a puppy struggling to express its true feelings, and many more. The characters are unique and inventive—bees think long and hard about what love means, birds try to eat the sun, nothingness questions its own existence, a ghost comes to terms with dying, and an introverted hedgehog slowly lets Jomny see its artistic insecurities. At the same time, Jomny’s curious presence allows these characters to open up to him in ways they were never able to before, revealing the power of somebody who is just there to listen.
You guys. You guuuuuuuuuuuys. I have been a blogger for a long time, and I have never been as excited about an ARC as I was when I received my copy of Jomny's book. I was seriously dancing around in excitement. We've received tons of ARCs in our blogging career, but this was one that I was absolutely dying to read, being such a huge fan -- so I could barely contain my excitement when I opened a copy from Harper in exchange for an honest review.
For starters, even though this book is novel-length, it's more of a graphic novel than anything. It tells the story of an alien named Jomny, who was sent down to Earth to learn more about human life. His trip was only supposed to be for the sake of a scientific study, but soon Jomny becomes friends with all sorts of wildlife, from trees to grass to eggs (my personal favorite character in the novel) to butterflies, and everything in between. He soon decides that he loves all of these creatures (mistakenly believing that they are humans), and he forms friendships and adopts ideals that his alien companions are disappointed in. Throughout the entire book, some of Jomny's most famous Twitter quotes make appearances, which made me smile. (I especially remember the struggle of getting those Tweets approved as yearbook quotes, because our school administration didn't believe me when I told them that the typos were intentional.)
Speaking of typos, I knew that this book would be full of them (being that that's Jomny's usual style), so I was a bit worried that it'd be difficult to read. (I had started having horrible flashbacks to reading Flowers for Algernon during freshman year of high school.) However, it was surprisingly easy! I didn't stumble through the book like I thought I was going to. It was a quick, easy read that I managed to tackle in one sitting, and I was left feeling a little empty and sad when I finished, hardly able to believe that it was over.
What I loved most about this book is that it made me feel like a better person. There are so many important quotes that come up about friendship, finding yourself, love and loss, etc. -- and all of these quotes, which are said in a silly or not very formal context, still manage to hit home. While reading this book, there were several moments where I had sat back and gone, "Whoa." Jomny would hit me with some super deep and inspirational quote that made me strive to be a better person.
There were also tons of funny little quips in this book that took a little more attention to catch, but once you did, you were left laughing. Right off the bat I caught onto the jokes about The Giving Tree, which made me super nostalgic for my childhood. I'll embarrassingly admit that it took me a little bit longer to catch onto the "spelling bee" joke, as well as a few others, but once I figured them out, I couldn't stop laughing. (My poor roommate was very, very annoyed by me that day.)
Once I read the final page and closed the book, I felt a feeling that is difficult to put into words. For starters, I read the entire thing on a beautifully sunny Monday in between classes, out on a picnic blanket on my school's great lawn, with our beautiful, old, and most iconic building in sight. So once I finished the book, my heart already felt like it was bubbly and happy and soaring, and then I took a second to look around me. And in that moment, I was more grateful for this Earth and my life and my education and my friends than I have ever been.
It's a book about being different. It's a book about exploring, and laughter, and love, and friendship. It's about nature and changes and appreciating both the smaller and the larger things in life. It teaches you not to make assumptions about big, scary-looking bears that just want friends. And it also teaches you to walk more softly across the grass, to take care of the smaller organisms living within it.
Overall, this book made me want to be a better person. It made me want to go out and explore, walk through a park, or sit in the sand and listen to the ocean. It made me want to experience life out of the four walls of my room. It made my heart feel light and happy. It made me want to go hug my friends and tell them how much they mean to me. It made me want to write this review as soon as possible, because it's very rare for someone to feel this way, and I wanted to capture it all correctly before that feeling was once again replaced with the stress of everyday life. I recommend this book to absolutely anybody and everybody. It will take less than two hours of your time, and you'll be so glad you did.
I never expected to learn so much about myself from a graphic novel about a little alien written by one of Twitter's most popular personalities, but here we are, and I'm glad it happened.
For starters, even though this book is novel-length, it's more of a graphic novel than anything. It tells the story of an alien named Jomny, who was sent down to Earth to learn more about human life. His trip was only supposed to be for the sake of a scientific study, but soon Jomny becomes friends with all sorts of wildlife, from trees to grass to eggs (my personal favorite character in the novel) to butterflies, and everything in between. He soon decides that he loves all of these creatures (mistakenly believing that they are humans), and he forms friendships and adopts ideals that his alien companions are disappointed in. Throughout the entire book, some of Jomny's most famous Twitter quotes make appearances, which made me smile. (I especially remember the struggle of getting those Tweets approved as yearbook quotes, because our school administration didn't believe me when I told them that the typos were intentional.)
Speaking of typos, I knew that this book would be full of them (being that that's Jomny's usual style), so I was a bit worried that it'd be difficult to read. (I had started having horrible flashbacks to reading Flowers for Algernon during freshman year of high school.) However, it was surprisingly easy! I didn't stumble through the book like I thought I was going to. It was a quick, easy read that I managed to tackle in one sitting, and I was left feeling a little empty and sad when I finished, hardly able to believe that it was over.
What I loved most about this book is that it made me feel like a better person. There are so many important quotes that come up about friendship, finding yourself, love and loss, etc. -- and all of these quotes, which are said in a silly or not very formal context, still manage to hit home. While reading this book, there were several moments where I had sat back and gone, "Whoa." Jomny would hit me with some super deep and inspirational quote that made me strive to be a better person.
There were also tons of funny little quips in this book that took a little more attention to catch, but once you did, you were left laughing. Right off the bat I caught onto the jokes about The Giving Tree, which made me super nostalgic for my childhood. I'll embarrassingly admit that it took me a little bit longer to catch onto the "spelling bee" joke, as well as a few others, but once I figured them out, I couldn't stop laughing. (My poor roommate was very, very annoyed by me that day.)
Once I read the final page and closed the book, I felt a feeling that is difficult to put into words. For starters, I read the entire thing on a beautifully sunny Monday in between classes, out on a picnic blanket on my school's great lawn, with our beautiful, old, and most iconic building in sight. So once I finished the book, my heart already felt like it was bubbly and happy and soaring, and then I took a second to look around me. And in that moment, I was more grateful for this Earth and my life and my education and my friends than I have ever been.
It's a book about being different. It's a book about exploring, and laughter, and love, and friendship. It's about nature and changes and appreciating both the smaller and the larger things in life. It teaches you not to make assumptions about big, scary-looking bears that just want friends. And it also teaches you to walk more softly across the grass, to take care of the smaller organisms living within it.
Overall, this book made me want to be a better person. It made me want to go out and explore, walk through a park, or sit in the sand and listen to the ocean. It made me want to experience life out of the four walls of my room. It made my heart feel light and happy. It made me want to go hug my friends and tell them how much they mean to me. It made me want to write this review as soon as possible, because it's very rare for someone to feel this way, and I wanted to capture it all correctly before that feeling was once again replaced with the stress of everyday life. I recommend this book to absolutely anybody and everybody. It will take less than two hours of your time, and you'll be so glad you did.
I never expected to learn so much about myself from a graphic novel about a little alien written by one of Twitter's most popular personalities, but here we are, and I'm glad it happened.
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