Awards

• 2020 Prisim Award Finalist
• Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year
• Southwest Books of the Year
• YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens

Overview

In this rollicking queer western adventure, acclaimed cartoonist Melanie Gillman (Stonewall Award Honor Book As the Crow Flies) puts readers in the saddle alongside Flor and Grace, a Latinx outlaw and a trans runaway, as they team up to thwart a Confederate plot in the New Mexico Territory. When Flor—also known as the notorious Ghost Hawk—robs the stagecoach that Grace has used to escape her Georgia home, the first thing on her mind is ransom. But when the two get to talking about Flor's plan to crash a Confederate gala and steal some crucial documents, Grace convinces Flor to let her join the heist.

Full Product Details

9781541572843

Table of Contents

Reviews

Stage Dreams is a delight. A fast-paced, charming adventure story told beautifully in colored pencil--a medium nobody knows better than Mel Gillman. Treat yourself to this book; your day/week/life will be better for it. --Kate Leth, Spell on Wheels --Other Print Melanie Gillman's beautifully crafted YA graphic adventure reveals the hitherto little-known historic diversity of the Old West. --Emil Ferris, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters --Other Print

A runaway and a bandit in search of new lives team up to steal war plans from the Confederacy. When Grace, a white trans woman and aspiring actress, runs away from conscription into the Georgia Infantry, she finds herself caught in the talons of the Ghost Hawk, a half-woman, half-hawk demon bandit--or so the rumors say. Despite the wild stories, the mysterious Ghost Hawk turns out to be a 'short brown lady' named Flor who dreams of living out the rest of her life on her own patch of land with some goats as soon as she gets the money from one last, big heist. With the help of Grace's acting skills and understanding of upper-class, white Georgian culture, they plot to steal secrets from a backroom meeting at a cotillion and sell them to the Union. Gillman (Steven Universe: Punching Up, 2018, etc.) captures the southwestern atmosphere with a soft, dusty color palette. Panels full of movement and vivid character expression create an immersive reading experience. The narrative unites two women with different backgrounds, depicting a relationship in which they support one another. Their romance develops naturally through moments of flirtation and fond glances. An open-ended but still satisfying resolution suggests a bright, hopeful future while leaving room to imagine more adventures for Grace and Flor. An engrossing escapade with a heart-stealing queer romance. --Kirkus Reviews --Journal Stage Dreams is a delight. A fast-paced, charming adventure story told beautifully in colored pencil--a medium nobody knows better than Mel Gillman. Treat yourself to this book; your day/week/life will be better for it. --Kate Leth, Spell on Wheels --Other Print Melanie Gillman's beautifully crafted YA graphic adventure reveals the hitherto little-known historic diversity of the Old West. --Emil Ferris, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters --Other Print

Author Information

Melanie Gillman is a cartoonist and colored pencil artist who draws positive queer and trans comics for young readers. They are the creator of the webcomic and graphic novel As the Crow Flies, published in 2017 by Iron Circus Comics. As the Crow Flies has been named a 2018 Stonewall Honor Book, won the 2018 Excellence in Graphic Literature Award for Best Middle Grade Graphic Novel, and been nominated for an Ignatz, Eisner, and Dwayne McDuffie Award. In addition to their comics work, they are also an adjunct professor in the Comics MFA Program at the California College of the Arts, where they teach classes about making comics and professional practices. Melanie Gillman is a cartoonist and colored pencil artist who draws positive queer and trans comics for young readers. They are the creator of the webcomic and graphic novel As the Crow Flies, published in 2017 by Iron Circus Comics. As the Crow Flies has been named a 2018 Stonewall Honor Book, won the 2018 Excellence in Graphic Literature Award for Best Middle Grade Graphic Novel, and been nominated for an Ignatz, Eisner, and Dwayne McDuffie Award. In addition to their comics work, they are also an adjunct professor in the Comics MFA Program at the California College of the Arts, where they teach classes about making comics and professional practices.

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