Walking around convention floors, my favorite thing to do is chat with publishers. After all these years I am still just a book nerd at heart. At Anime NYC 2025, I was wandering from book display to book display when I encountered Maverick books. The folks there were eager to talk (and sell, obviously) but I cannot express to you how much more likely I am to buy from a knowledgeable, enthusiastic bookseller, than from someone who is hired to sell and really isn’t steeped in the books themselves.
In this case, Spenser from Madcave Studios recognized me and cheerfully pointed me towards this book, Navigating With You, by veteran comics author Jeremy Whitley and illustrator Cassio Ribeiro, lettered by Nikki Foxrobot. Friends, I bought it, because it was exactly the right book to sell me. Good job, Spenser.
Gabby Graciana and Neesha Sparks are both transfers to a new school and, despite vastly different lives, they quickly bond as friends, then more. Both will work past past and present traumas, bad relationships, systemic inequity and, as they share their love for a popular shoujo manga from their childhoods, will fall in love.
The story, especially in the beginning is a bit heavy-handed, but Neesha, who has Cerebral Palsy, has a lot to communicate about how living with disability is pathologized, infantilized and made harder in many ways by people who believe they are helping. Gabby is hiding her grief and trauma at her mother’s loss and has a controlling boyfriend. Both characters are queer and their families know. All of this and they way we understand “culture” is pulled apart slowly over time, until we understand that there is more to ourselves than just where our family is from and what foods we eat, who we love. Anime fandom is a culture, just as surfing is, just as being from New York or Florida or Mexico is. All of these things become pieces of who we are.
Gabby and Neesha learn that they both liked an old, out of print manga classic Navigator Nozomi. They decide to start a book club and find and read all of the volumes. We are given critical scenes of the manga in black and white throughout the story, each scene sparking conversation and confession and further intimacy between Neesha and Gabby. Again, much of the story telling is a bit heavy-handed, but there is NO doubt what story is being told. Whitley and Ribeiro are firm hands on the narrative wheel in case readers might miss the point.
The story reaches a brilliant climax as Neesha and Gabby attend an anime con dressed as Navigator Nozomi and her nemesis(?) Kazane to meet the manga creator where they are gifted with a rare and powerful gift – the story behind the story.
Neesha and Gabby are very different, but both likeable. Parents are supportive but in parenty ways. Real life is complicated and intrusive throughout, but by the end, we’re sure that these two young women have their heads screwed on right and will be fine.
While I (cynical, world-weary comparative literature major who has read many thousands of books) found the beginning slow, the destination here definitely justified the journey. And, while this book is itself a western comic, it gets some extra points for also being (and discussing!) Yuri manga. ^_^
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 2 Intimacy scenes are not intrusive
LGBTQ – 10
Overall – 8
This would be a terrific read for the YA reader in your life. It’s the kind of book that will open eyes on one level, enetertain on another, then make you cry, while opening eyes again.
