Page by Paige

Artist and teacher Gulledge's debut graphic novel features young Paige Turner, who, like Gulledge, is a Virginian transplanted to New York. Unexpectedly stripped of her comfortable social network and dropped into an unfamiliar context, Paige finds herself reconstructing her disrupted life; New York provides her with a rich source of novel experiences, new friends, and even her first romance as Paige explores who it is that she wants to become. Paige's story is a familiar, perhaps universal, tale of self-discovery and transformation. Although New York is quite different from the region where Paige grew up, Gulledge eschews an antiurban approach, preferring to see in New York that quintessentially American city, a grand, intricate setting fit for a coming-of-age story. Gulledge's b&w illustrations are simple but well-suited to their subject matter; the work as a whole is a good-natured, optimistic portrait of a young woman evolving toward adulthood. Ages 12–up. (May)