Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

Paige Turner (her parents are writers) is struggling to adjust to life in New York City, where she and her parents just moved from Virginia. With such a drastic change of scenery, Paige decides to turn to her sketchbook for inspiration and solace. Paige soon meets a group of new friends, and despite their loyalty to her and admiration of her talent as an artist, she still struggles with confidence in her ability.

So Paige decides to make a list of goals that she hopes to accomplish by year's end, which she documents in her sketchbook.

Page by Paige is full of gorgeous drawings that convey tons of meaning and symbolism. For those people who scoff at graphic novels and say that they keep the reader from having to use their own imaginations, well then they need to read a book like this. The story itself is rather unremarkable and overdone: girl moves to a new place, girl worries about whether she'll fit in, girl makes new friends... But what makes this book remarkable is how the drawings symbolically show Paige's worries and insecurities more than words ever could.


Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge
Published: May 2011 by Amulet Books
Pages: 192
Genre: Graphic Novel
Audience: Young Adult

4 comments:

  1. Ooh, interesting to see a graphic novel geared toward YA, I assumed it was more MG :P Thanks for the review, this looks like a lovely book :)

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  2. I assumed this was a middle grade book at first too but it's definitely YA!

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  3. I've just started to look more closely at graphic novels. Here's a tease from my current read.

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  4. Sounds like an interesting book. I haven't read many graphic novels, but this sounds like one I should check out.

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