“everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too” by jomny sun

“hapiness is accepting that sadness will always exist
and then decidimg to be hapy anyway”

(and yes, I know, the spelling makes your brain squeak, but it is sooo worth it.)

Folks, it has has been a rough couple of weeks. The tension, anger, and fear in the air seem untenable sometimes. Heightened anxiety has certainly made writing harder for me, when all I want to do is play opossum and hide in my bed. Books, however, remain my solace, my shield, and, often, my sage. Books remind me of the good in the world, lift my spirits with their beauty and creativity, and expose me to new viewpoints and important truths. It is fitting, then, that the next book in my “review queue” is jomny sun’s brilliant, heartwarming missive.

What started as a twitter comic has blossomed into this beautiful little book that will make you smile and sigh in equal measure. “everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too” is the story, in graphic form, of jomny, an alien sent to Earth to study humans. Startlingly and refreshingly innocent, jomny thinks everything he comes across is a ‘humabn’ – trees, snails, bears – and yet what he learns about Earth is truer and purer than if he were “right” about what he observed.

Jonathan Sun, the author behind jomny sun’s brilliance, writes with quiet confidence and piercing insight, reminding us what it is to be human and to be alive. This graphic novel may take less than an hour to read, but I promise you will return to it again and again, and even when you are not caressing its sweet pages, you will be lifted up by your memories of it.