A tender YA graphic novel that traces grief, friendship, and the healing power of storytelling, following a boy who learns to navigate loss by finishing the comic his brother left behind.
UNFINISHED
by Nidhi Chanani
Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, August 2027
(via Writers House)
Sanjay Lal was never supposed to become older than his older brother, Jeevan. But three years ago, Jeevan died, and now, Sanjay is hit with overwhelming grief that he doesn’t know how to handle. His parents have sent him back to group counseling where he finds kinship with fellow group member, Ruchi, a bold, fat, beautiful teen who bakes to cope with her own loss.
But Sanjay doesn’t really know how to talk to girls, and his home life isn’t any better. Jeevan was the social brother, not Sanjay. How is Sanjay supposed to navigate new friendships and silent family dinners without him? For Sanjay, a historical comic about an unknown group of Indian freedom fighters becomes his lifeline. Jeevan began the comic before his death, setting out to tell the story of how the Ghadar Party made their mark in 1913 San Francisco, but like Jeevan, they were never able to finish their work.
With humor and hope, UNFINISHED interweaves Sanjay’s story and the story within the comic, all while showing the process of comic book making, from thumbnails to inks and finally full-color. Through finishing Jeevan’s comic, Sanjay begins to process his grief and uncover an astonishing truth about his brother, community, and the power in documenting stories to remember.
Nidhi Chanani is a freelance illustrator, cartoonist, and writer. Born in Calcutta and raised in suburban Southern California, she creates because it makes her happy—with the hope that it can make others happy too. Her debut graphic novel, Pashmina, received starred reviews from School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly, was a JLG Selection, a YALSA Top Ten Great Graphic Novel for Teens, and was reviewed in the New York Times, among other honors. She has a number of other comics and picture books out in the world as well, including Binny’s Diwali, Jukebox, and What Will My Story Be? Chanani draws and dreams every day with her husband, kid, and their kittens in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In the fog laden hills of San Francisco sits a sleepy independent boba café. Run by Jing Li and guarded by her kitty Bao, it comfortably fades into the background. But inside the boba café, there’s a secret. Jing is the keeper of the monster of San Francisco. Each day she prepares one giant boba for nine hours to feed it.