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“This arresting, heartbreaking, and meditative novel examines the desperation of anxiety and shows how, though difficult, gaining control of one’s life can lead both to living one’s best life and living life the best one can.”
— Booklist, Starred Review

The Cartographers

Written by Amy Zhang
Published by HarperCollins Publishers

Ocean Sun has always felt an enormous pressure to succeed. After struggling with depression during her senior year of high school, Ocean moves to New York City, where she has been accepted at a prestigious university. But Ocean feels so emotionally raw and unmoored (and uncertain about what is real and what is not) that she decides to defer and live off her savings until she can get herself together. She also decides not to tell her mother (whom she loves very much but doesn’t want to disappoint) that she is deferring—at least until she absolutely must.

In New York, Ocean moves into an apartment with Georgie and Tashya, two strangers who soon become friends, and gets a job tutoring. She also meets a boy—Constantine Brave (a name that makes her laugh)—late one night on the subway. Constant is a fellow student and a graffiti artist, and Constant and Ocean soon start corresponding via Google Docs—they discuss physics, philosophy, art, literature, and love. But everything falls apart when Ocean goes home for Thanksgiving, Constant reveals his true character, Georgie and Tashya break up, and the police get involved.

Ocean, Constant, Georgie, and Tashya are all cartographers—mapping out their futures, their dreams, and their paths toward adulthood in this stunning and heartbreaking novel about finding the strength to control your own destiny.

Primary ISBN: 9780062383075
Publication Date: January 2023
Available As: Hardcover, Audiobook, eBook
Young Adult , Ag e 14 or older

Community Represented:

Themes: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Setting: United States (New York)

Character’s New Arrival/New American Status: 1st Generation

Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience

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