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Harley in the Sky

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Harley in the Sky - Bowman, Akemi Dawn
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Eighteen-year-old Harley, dreams of quitting school to join her parents' Las Vegas circus and when they refuse, she joins a rival circus where she must learn hard truths and face consequences.

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Harley in the Sky 2021, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

ISBN-13: 9781534437135

Reprint edition

Trade paperback

 Harley in the Sky 2020, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

ISBN-13: 9781534437128

Hardcover
Harley in the Sky 2020, Ink Road, London

ISBN-13: 9781785302879

Paperback

All Editions of Harley in the Sky

Harley in the Sky

2021, Trade paperback

ISBN-13:

9781534437135

Harley in the Sky

2020, Hardcover

ISBN-13:

9781534437128

Harley in the Sky

2020, Paperback

ISBN-13:

9781785302879

Books by Akemi Dawn Bowman

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Customer Reviews

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Ari

Mar 31, 2020

A must read for YA contemporary lovers!

Every reader has that one author that seems to be writing books just for them. For me, Akemi Dawn Bowman is that author. Starfish and Summer Bird Blue felt so personal to me as a biracial Asian reader who spent so long looking for characters like me in YA-not to mention how authentically her books have handled mental health and identity. Harley in the Sky is no different. Just like Bowman's previous novels, this YA contemporary tells a genuine and moving story of self, family, passion, and learning how to piece yourself back together.

Harley has grown up in her parents' Las Vegas circus and has always dreamed of training as a trapeze artist. When her parents insist she attend college rather than begin training, Harley betrays her parents and runs away to join their rival circus, Maison du Mystère. Among this magical traveling circus, Harley must prove herself to the other performers and learn what it really takes to make it in the brutal circus world. As the circus travels around the country, Harley must also reconcile her dreams with the mistakes she's made.

Bowman is incredibly skilled at weaving together multiple complex themes. As in her previous two novels, mental health is one of the central themes of Harley's story. Throughout the novel, Harley struggles to maintain her mental health while also facing painful memories from her past. Harley in the Sky also touches on the stigma of mental illness and treatment, and how teens struggling with mental health often face difficulties getting their family members to support their treatment. I loved that all mental health experiences were treated as valid, regardless of labels or diagnoses. Harley's experiences, fear, and pain are incredibly authentic and this novel has easily earned a spot as one of my top YA recommendations on mental health.

Identity and family are also interwoven throughout the story in a seamless, natural way. Harley is biracial and she faces fears of not being Asian enough and not being white enough at the same time. She works to understand what it means to be biracial and to stake a claim to her identities and her family history. Her feelings surrounding her multiracial identity mingled with the complicated parental relationships in a way that felt so complex, rich, and real. Harley in the Sky is about coming to terms with who you are, realizing that you are valid, that you belong, and that you have a right to take up space. While I do not share the specific ethnicities that Harley belongs to, I am a biracial Asian reader and Harley's feelings surrounding her identity rang so true for me.

Harley in the Sky comes to life with an incredible, lifelike cast of characters. Harley was driven, passionate, and flawed-she's certainly a character that any reader will fall in love with. Even Harley's parents, who are not physically with Harley for most of the book, felt multidimensional and fully fleshed out. I particularly loved Harley's grandmother and their tender relationship. There's also Vas, the brooding violinist, and Dexi & Vivien, Harley's newfound circus friends. Each character in this book made the story come to life, almost as if the novel itself were a circus.

Harley in the Sky is full of beautiful and lush writing. Bowman's writing style is realistic yet somehow full of magic and wonder. She artfully captures the charm and sparkle of the circus, while balancing the heavy, emotional themes. The pacing of this novel also works quite well, slowly revealing bits of the past through memories and emails from Harley's mom. As Harley journeys through the country, she journeys through her emotions, her trauma, and her past.

Akemi Dawn Bowman has once again crafted a heartbreaking yet beautiful story of identity, passion, and mental health that is sure to be on my list of favorites come the end of the year. As a teen services librarian, I'll definitely be recommending this title to teens and YA readers at my library. Harley in the Sky will be loved by fans of Bowman's previous novels, as well as readers who enjoyed The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan, Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao, I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn, and Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen. This touching and heartfelt YA contemporary is a 2020 must-read that will make you desperately want to go see the circus.

dawn

Mar 29, 2020

Why I love this book!

The book follows Harley Milano, a mixed-race teenager as she wants to be a trapeze artist in her parent's circus, Teatro della Notte, but her parents don't want her to be an aerialist.

Her parents want to play it safe and have a back-up plan of going to college but Harley wants to go head-first into being an aerialist. I found this aspect to be very relatable, because parents usually want their kids to stick to a safe plan because of their own struggles. There's a complexity to Harley's struggles with her family and you can both sides properly and the way its portrayed as dysfunctional and complex.

Harley runs away from her parents and joins the rival circus, but achieving her dream isn't easy. She has to make a lot of tough decisions and she can act impulsively but there's a lot of depth portrayed in her character. This is quite a character-focused novel and you end up rooting for Harley as the underdog and its eye-opening when different themes are discussed in the book.

When she joins the rival circus, she has a tough time fitting in and she does make friends along the journey. One person in particular, Vas, is the love interest and I absolutely love him. He's not there to change Harley but to support her. It's not a book about love saving the day but a story that explores Harley's growth through it all in a realistic way and that is Amazing.

The book has a fair share of twists and conflicts to keep the story interesting and always moving forward. It's a well-written novel with Akemi's usual artistic and beautiful writing and there's even aspects of it written in email format. It's a story of family, growth and how things can fall apart when you're focused solely on your dreams. A realistic, raw book and I loved every single aspect of it.

Simant

Mar 27, 2020

A journey of passion and identity

Akemi Dawn Bowman is one of my favourite authors and like her first book Starfish, I loved Harley too. Trust Akemi to write about identity and mental health issues, and she would do absolute justice to these themes.

Harley in the Sky follows Harley Yoshi Milano, a teen living in Las Vegas, whose parents run the Teatro della Notte circus. Harley dreams of joining her parents' circus and becoming an aerialist. But her parents refuse that because they want her to join college. She then leaves home and joins the rival travelling circus Maison du Mystère to pursue her dreams.

Both of Harley's parents' are biracial and that makes it difficult for her to understand all four different heritages of her. She feels like she exists in this in-between space. People told her how she's 'not Chinese enough' but also 'not American enough'. Akemi challenges the racial stereotypes and prejudices. She shows that Harley has the right to every part of her identity without anyone telling her that she's 'not enough'.

Through Harley, Akemi has tried to show a multi-layered character. Harley makes mistakes but she grows out of them and learns understanding and forgiveness along the way. Though ambitious, she always had good intentions and cared for others. She knows that putting her ambitions above her family and friends is not right, but at the same time, she doesn't want to regret not 'trying'.

Vas stole my heart the moment he appeared on the screen. I liked how broody and mysterious he was and took his time to open up. Somehow, whenever there was a scene of Vas playing, I wanted to hear his music on screen? I loved Popo, Harley's grandmother. She provided some lighter moments in the story as well as the wisdom Harley needed about her heritage.

Everyone talks about a backup plan. and Harley says that why it is always that people who wish to pursue careers in the humanities streams are asked about that? And parents always have some pre-set goals for children and to achieve them they pressurize them. Harley's mother uses different tactics to emotionally manipulate her. But behind all those, there is, of course, parental love and Akemi has shown this beautifully.

Depression is the core of the story and Akemi has presented it in a very subtle and realistic way. Harley's emotions were generally all over the place and often she found it hard to get words out of her mouth. I was able to relate to her concerns, her rage and her fury. Akemi has also shown how people still don't take mental health seriously. We see the neglect of mental health by Harley's parents. Her family had a stigma surrounding the conversations related to this. Harley also talked about using 'labels' that until you put it inside some label, people don't take it seriously.

This book also celebrates (found) family and the life of a circus. Harley's love for the circus is infectious. You can't help but dream about the big top, trapeze artists, shiny stage, costumes and the whole beautiful aura of it. Though in the beginning people of Maison du Mystère didn't accept her, slowly she made a space for herself in the troupe through her hard work and determination.

The best thing about Akemi's writing is how effortless it feels. It is always poetic but at the same time leaves an impact that is hard to forget. I was fully immersed in the story since the beginning. Akemi knows exactly how to balance between descriptive elements, characters, important issues, dialogues and pacy plots. Even the characters' internal feelings and conflicts don't sound boring. She has distributed this story into essential parts where each moment, whether it's small or big, has it's own importance and eventually leads to some important moments later in the story. You can't help but be compelled and enthralled by the story of Harley and her dreams.

I have come to a point now where I would read anything written by Akemi. And if you are someone who is yet to start reading her work, why not start with Harley? In simple words, just READ IT! Definitely recommended.

Charvi

Mar 22, 2020

A true masterpiece!

"I only wish my parents could see what this means to me. What it would mean to hold a dream in my palm, press it tight against my heart, and never let it go"

The story took us on a ride with a lot of twists and bumps but it all ended on a heartwarming note. I love how grounded this book was, nothing was exaggerated to make the readers happy, Harley had to face tons of obstacles and in the end, every argument and struggle ended in realistic compromises or the characters having to give up something.

I think Harley In The Sky explores some really important themes in a beautiful manner. The themes were of mental health and its dismissal, living with disorders, familial relationships that can be loving yet unsupportive at the same time and many many more. At one point Harley talks about backup careers being there only for people who wish to pursue careers in the humanities streams. That really touched my heart.

As usual, every time I read something by Akemi, I get swayed into its beauty. The author has an excellent knack for writing flowery descriptions without exaggerating and not making the internal monologues seem boring. It's easy to get lost into her stories and you really don't want to stop reading until you hit the end.

Haley

Mar 10, 2020

Circus Dreams

Content/Trigger Warnings from the Author's Site: Depression, mood swings, references to suicidal ideation, heart attack

This was a truly beautiful book, it was a tribute from Akemi Dawn Bowman to mental health, dreams, and creativity. I loved the duality of Harley's mental health and her cultural identity, they each were part of her reasons she felt the Circus was the place for her, someplace to call home because it contains those who were different. I could deeply relate to her, even despite the age difference between Harley's youth and my...haha lack of it. It was her insecurities, her emotions as part of her mental health, and even the cultural identity issues. I wanted to desperately give this book to sixteen-year-old me, to say that everyone's normal was different, that you were not alone, but, the best I can do is recommend this to anyone who has ever felt alone due to being different [whether through mental health, cultural heritage disassociation, or just for not fitting in]. I loved the show of the relationship between Harley and her parents, the growth between them, and especially the connection to her family as a whole as it changed through the book.

The circus was, of course, my favourite, I loved that there were different circuses and the performers and crew were a lot of fun to read about. Vivien and Vas were probably my two favourite characters, aside from Harley of course! I look forward to reading more by Bowman.

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