 | Paper planes Author: Wood, Jennie | |
| Price: $12.29 | ||
Summary:
Former best friends Dylan Render and Leighton Worthington attempt to successfully navigate their way through a summer camp for troubled youth. They both need a good evaluation at the camp. Otherwise, they'll be sent away, unable to attend high school with their friends. While participating in camp activities and chores, Dylan and Leighton rexamine the events that led up to the incident that sent them to camp. In graphic novel format.
| Illustrator: | Dozerdraws |
Reviews:
School Library Journal (+) (04/01/23)
Booklist (+) (12/01/23)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 04/15/2023 *Starred Review* Five years ago, at Leighton’s ninth birthday party, she and Dylan cemented their friendship with a tattoo-to-be. Leighton, already a gifted artist, drew a spaceship for wannabe astronaut Dylan that would eventually be inked by their mother’s tattoo-artist boyfriend, willing to disregard Dylan’s young age. The pair couldn’t be more different. Leighton—her last name is aptly Worthington—is wealthy, a tennis champion, and the perfect-daughter foil to her rebellious older sister. Dylan has none of Leighton’s privileges, often left to fend for themself by a single mother working three jobs to keep her family afloat. The passing years only make the duo more inseparable. By the summer after eighth grade, however, Leighton and Dylan are fighting for their futures at a camp for troubled youth, following an incident with an unrelenting bully. Creators Wood and Dozerdraws are, like Dylan, both nonbinary, adding empathic, multilayered nuance to their exceptional collaboration. Their narrative moves back and forth between struggles at camp and the events that led to the teens’ fateful banishment. As details are revealed, so, too, are their confrontations (or not) with societal and parental pressures meant to deny their authentic selves. Dozerdraws’ artistry is especially notable, every inch saturated with color, rollicking with motion, and illuminated with feelings both stifled and shared. - Copyright 2023 Booklist.
School Library Journal - 04/01/2023 Gr 7–10—Dylan and Leighton are two former best friends who have been sent to a summer camp for troubled youth due to an incident that is revealed late in the story. Friends since they were children, and now on the cusp of starting high school, their lives begin to diverge. Dylan is nonbinary and comes from a single-parent household, while Leighton, who is biracial and asexual, is pushed to excel in a sport she is not interested in by her affluent parents. This non-linear tale effectively uses flashbacks to show how these two friends had a falling out and why they are forced to be at the camp together. The artwork is pleasing and showcases a diverse cast of characters, with a palette that helpfully alternates to signal when there are time shifts. The illustrations will appeal to fans of the "Lumberjanes" series, not only for the similar camp vibe, but because Dozerdraws has also illustrated a few volumes from that series. VERDICT Strong character growth, welcome diversity, and the bittersweet lesson that some friendships don't last forever make this a must-buy for all libraries.—Nancy McKay - Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
