Book Review: Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Summary

This graphic novel follows high schooler Paige Turner as she works to push beyond her comfort zone – both as an artist and as a person. She’s just moved to New York and buys a sketchbook to challenge herself to be a better artist. Along the way she makes discoveries about herself and the world around her, and we (the readers) get to follow along.

What I Liked

I loved the art in this book. The comic itself is beautiful, but I love how the author incorporated a lot of out of the box ideas into the book. We see Paige’s story intertwined with fun sketches and ideas from her sketchbook. The author also includes artwork from a couple others, which pops out in a fun way because they are usually in a different style.
This was just a happy, feel-good story. There’s a touch of romance, and the main character is constantly working to improve herself by doing things that make her uncomfortable. While it reads like a coming-of-age story, it seems very relatable to life as a whole (or at least to me, in my late twenties).

My Favorite Lines/Pages

(This book didn’t have page numbers, so I don’t have those for you.)

There’s an image at the beginning where Paige goes to school. Across the building there is a banner that says BE AN EXTROVERT, as the artist’s way of showing the pressure Paige is feeling when walking into this world. I liked this because I feel that’s a common pressure, especially for those with social anxiety. I also liked this because (spoiler in white, highlight to read) at the end of the book this image reappeared, but the banner had a new one over it that read BE A PAIGE. (Be yourself! I love that the character grew into herself throughout the book.)
“It’s up to me to sculpt myself into who I want to be…”
“Okay, so maybe I am self-absorbed. But who isn’t? When someone looks at one of my drawings, it reflects back THEM. Not me.” (This made me laugh because it’s totally true.
There’s an image where she’s holding a large heart (representing dating/romance) and is surrounded by banana peels. Like she’s afraid one wrong step will screw everything up.