Graphic Novel Review: Page by Paige

As you may or may not recall, I've been on a bit of a graphic novel kick lately. I've read one a day for about the past week or two and after a while they start to run together a bit. All those bright colors and KAPOW's. One of the reasons that graphic novels are great is that they engage young readers who are used to the constant visual stimulation of the internet and television. As someone who grew up in a slightly slower time (okay, the 90's), I'm still a fan of the traditional black and white page. I sometimes find the "graphic" part of the "graphic novel" a bit distracting. So I found Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge a refreshing change of pace.

Paige Turner's parents are writers and they have uprooted her from her life in Charlottesville, VA and moved to Brooklyn. Forced to start over with new people in a new city, Paige feels isolated and afraid. So she does what any quiet red-headed girl would do: she buys a sketchbook. She has no real experience so the only thing she has to go off are her grandmother's "rules" for art, which include "No more excuses!" and "Figure out what scare you... and do it!"

She draws everything in her new city and everything she feels as she explores it. Sketching keeps her from feeling alone as she can't open up to her mother, who she feels always wears a "happy mask," and she can't open up to her new friends for fear of burdening them with her problems. But she follows her grandmother's advice and does what scares her most: she lets her new friends see her sketchbook and, by extension, see her true self.

Paige slowly progresses from shy, secretive, and angsty to brave, funny, and creative as she challenges herself to do the things that scare her the most and learns to trust both herself and the people around her.

The premise isn't entirely original and the protagonista comes to her revelation a little easily but it all makes for a very realistic journey--which is probably because the artist (both author and illustrator) based the story on her own real-life experience. The true draw of Paige, though, is the artwork. It's a little more free-flowing as there are many pages without panels. The author does a brilliant job of combining the artwork with the main character's emotions as the main character, Paige, is an artist and the graphic novel reads like a combination of her diary and sketchbook. Given that the main character is a girl and the focus of the book is her emotional journey, this would also be a great introductory graphic novel for girls, who are sometimes more resistant to the format.

(Photo courtesy of Abrams Books)

I loved loved loved Page by Paige. When I tweeted about it, I used exclamation points. Two of them. And that from a girl who very rarely emotes. This is a book that I needed when I was a teen. It's just too bad no one wrote it until this year.

Grade: A-