In this post-apocalyptic graphic novel, JieJie and her little brother DiDi make their way through a desolate desert landscape to reach an isolated telephone booth, their only contact with their mother who works tirelessly in a factory in the domed city of Oasis.
Their days are filled with surviving sandstorms and scavenging for food and water until they find an obsolete robot abandoned in a junkyard. They piece the robot together and activate its mother mode, gradually developing a loving relationship. When their worried mother travels to visit them in the desert, she initially rejects the robot mother. Her children persuade her that they can form a family and create a future together, rejecting the technological tyranny of Oasis.
Set in the not-so-distant future, themes of resilience, family and hope in dark times are explored through images that invite the reader into the children’s world. This poignant graphic novel about sacrifice and what it means to be a family takes place on a ravaged planet depicted in well-paced panels full of dark swirling sand with occasional bursts of light and color. Instead of conveying doom, however, visual images capture the tenderness and beauty that can be created within a harsh world. Guojing’s rounded soft strokes and delicate pencil shading create tone and atmosphere, while the sparing use of color highlights heartfelt moments between characters.
This compelling narrative is inspired by China’s left-behind children, who remain in rural villages while their parents work on assembly lines in cities to support their families. The nearly monochromatic art conveys the emotional depth of loneliness and loss for millions of children due to family separation. Another societal issue connects to the replacement of humans by artificial intelligence, evident in both the narrative and in Guojing’s decision to draw with traditional media as an illustrator. Guojing argues that drawing is more difficult than digital illustrations for AI to replicate and convey human emotions in ways that are absent in AI images. Her decision to draw with charcoal, pastels and pencil is more than an artistic choice, it’s also her stance against AI replacing humans. Her book depicts a family that includes a robot, so she does not reject AI but argues that we can live with AI instead of allowing AI to take over our lives and humanity.
Guojing is an illustrator from Shanxi Province of China, who worked as a concept artist on animated games and children’s television shows in Singapore before moving to Vancouver, British Colombia. The isolation and loneliness she felt growing up under China’s one-child policy provided inspiration for her award-winning debut book, The Only Child (2014), named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book. Her graphic novels include The Flamingo (2022) and Stormy (2018), both connected to her childhood and family in China.–Recommended by Kathy G. Short, University of Arizona
Title: Oasis
Author: Guojing
ISBN: 9781250818386
PubDate: February 18, 2025
Publisher: Macmillan
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- Themes: Guojing, Kathy Short, Oasis
- Descriptors: WOW Recommends