This Was Our Pact, by Ryan Andrews

Each year on the Autumn Equinox, the townfolk celebrate by sending lanterns down the river. Legend has it, if you follow the lanterns far enough downriver, you'll see them magically fly into the sky and into the stars.

That's what they say, anyway. But no one has ever actually SEEN it...until this year. 

Maybe. 

Ben and his friends are determined to find out what really happens to the lanterns. They make a pact that, no matter what, they will follow the lanterns to the end. No turning back. The journey will be long and potentially dangerous, but the boys are determined. Yet one by one they head home as comforts like tacos for dinner and warm beds call to them. Soon it is only Ben and Nathaniel, an arrangement Ben is not pleased about (because Nathaniel is SO annoying).

As the boys travel, they encounter magical bears, tricky witches, map-drawing crows, and caves that hold all the stars in the sky. It IS dangerous, but it is also the adventure of a lifetime. But the only way these two frememies can make it there and back is to put aside their differences and work together. And who knows...maybe they'll end the night the best of friends.

This Was Our Pact, a graphic novel by Ryan Andrews, is incredible and magical in a way that reminded me of a Studio Ghibli movie. In it, two boys who are absolutely NOT friends in the beginning discover maybe, if they take a chance on each other, they're not so different after all. And this is one of the things I loved about this story. I also loved the magical elements woven into it. 

All in all, a This Was Our Pact is a gorgeous story not to be missed!

-AJB