This Was Our Pact (2019) is a fantasy graphic novel by comic illustrator Ryan Andrews. Intended for middle grade readers, the novel follows Ben and Nathaniel, two boys who are on a quest to find out where their town’s fall equinox lanterns end up after the annual festival. Along the way, they face obstacles and learn about being open to new people and perspectives. This Was Our Pact was nominated for an Eisner Award and was named a best book of 2019 by the School Library Journal and NPR.

This study guide refers to the 2019 First Second paperback edition.

Plot Summary

Ben, a middle schooler, lives in a small town that celebrates the fall equinox by releasing paper lanterns into a river. One year, Ben makes a pact with four friends from school that they will follow the lanterns to discover where they end up; they decide that they will not look back or return home until their quest is complete. When they set off after the lanterns, another boy called Nathaniel follows at a distance. Ben and Nathaniel are family friends, but Ben shuns him in front of his other friends because they don’t like Nathaniel.

Gradually, the four boys who originally accompanied Ben on his quest drop out and return home when their journey takes them too far. Ben is angry that they broke the pact, but he is determined to continue on by himself. Nathaniel finally catches up and announces his intention of joining Ben on his quest.

On their journey, they encounter a talking bear who is carrying a basket on his back. He is a fisherbear, and he explains that in his cultural tradition, the night of the fall equinox is for catching special fish as they swim from the river up into the sky. The boys are confused when the fisherbear identifies their lanterns as his “fish.” They travel together for a while, but they end up lost in a fog on the shore of a lake. When they try to head east toward the river, a huge cliff face blocks their path. Only the fisherbear is able climb up the steep rock, so he parts ways with the boys and continues on alone.

Nathaniel wades into the lake to investigate and discovers a staircase leading up an enormous boulder. At the top of the boulder, the two boys discover a phone. Ben picks it up and speaks to a woman named Madam Majestic who says she can make them a map. A loud rumbling and screeching noise heralds the arrival of a platform suspended on cables that recede into the thick fog. The boys ride this platform and arrive at the entrance of a cave high up on the cliff. Here, they meet Madam Majestic, an older woman who is busy brewing various mysterious potions in a laboratory. She explains that she is creating a potion that will dim the moon’s light to help the “The Enlightened Ones” arrive at her village during the fall equinox—they follow a star path, which they cannot see if the moonlight is too bright. She pauses this work to ask her giant crow, Margaret, to fly out over the surrounding area and then return to draw Ben and Nathaniel a map. Unfortunately, Madam Majestic is unhappy when the boys reveal that they have no money to pay her, so she locks them in her big, untidy cellar and says they will need to clean it in return for the map.

Nathaniel is excited to explore the cellar, where he finds hats shaped like bear heads and some old books. He puts an astronomy book in his backpack and wears one of the bear heads; he offers Ben the other one, but Ben is upset at being locked up and refuses it. He blames Nathaniel for their imprisonment. They hear Madam Majestic through the cellar door, shouting about a missing ingredient to her potion. Ben calls out that he can go get the missing ingredient for her, planning to use this as an opportunity to escape.

Madam Majestic releases Ben, instructing him to go to her star farm to retrieve a piece of the artificial sun that she has grown there. He is supposed to send it back to her with her dog, Sebastian, who will accompany him on this trip and make sure he doesn’t escape before finding the potion ingredient. Afterward, Ben is free to continue on his quest. Ben climbs into a boat with Sebastian, and he begins to lower it down the cliff to the lake. However, as he passes the cellar window, he feels guilty about leaving Nathaniel trapped inside. He calls to Nathaniel and helps him climb into the boat with them.

Nathaniel and Ben agree to forgive one another. They cross the lake and see the fisherbear, who says he has lost his way. He joins them in their boat. Together, they find the cavern where Madam Majestic keeps her star farm and wonder how they will find the sun among the thousands of stars there. Using the astronomy book and his knowledge of space, Nathaniel is able to deduce which star is the sun. They hand it to Sebastian, who takes it and heads back home. The fisherbear and the two boys then set off in the boat to find the ocean.

However, their boat begins moving back toward the cave entrance, and they fear that Madam Majestic is controlling it and trying to bring them back to her home. The trio jumps out of the boat and into the fisherbear’s large basket. While they are considering what to do next, they see some lights drawing closer, eventually revealing a marvelous floating rock formation carrying strange beings. Ben guesses that these are “The Enlightened Ones” for whom Madam Majestic was preparing. One of these beings creates some wind to help them; they make a sail from the fisherbear’s coat and are propelled toward shore.

Once the boys are back on land, they find the river again and are delighted to see that they have nearly caught up with the lanterns. The fisherbear, eager to get to his fishing spot, bounds ahead. He jumps into the river, leaping from lantern to lantern; to the boys’ delight, the lanterns morph into luminous fish and begin rising into the sky. The fisherbear catches many fish in his basket. Ben and Nathaniel congratulate the proud fisherbear, who says that this night has been even better than he dreamed it would be.

A bus pulls up and the fisherbear offers to buy the boys tickets for home, but Ben tells him they are going to continue on their journey. The fisherbear says goodbye and gets on the bus, and the boys decide that they will come back to this spot each year to meet up with the fisherbear. Ben and Nathaniel resume their journey together, not looking back and not turning for home.