Paper Planes

March 13, 2023
Following a dangerous incident at a party, two 14-year-olds spend their summer at a camp for wayward teens in this cathartic graphic novel by Wood (The Flutter Collection). Best friends Dylan, who is nonbinary and white-cued, and Leighton, who is biracial (Black and white), have always loved communicating via note-passing, often in the form of paper airplanes. But ever since the party, Leighton has been distant, not responding to notes and disparaging Dylan for developing friendships with fellow campers. In alternating past and present sequences, Wood economically unspools the pair’s mercurial relationship throughout the years leading to their admittance to the camp, where teens must learn to follow directions and be team players. The two find themselves on divergent paths and are forced to confront past mistakes and reevaluate their friendship. Dozerdraws (The Last Session) renders flashbacks in a sepia-toned palette, artfully distinguishing them from vibrantly saturated present events. While Leighton and Dylan’s internal voices often read overly similarly, this emotionally resonant telling presents the protagonists’ challenges and missteps with empathy, making for a simultaneously hopeful and sobering reminder that growing up sometimes means growing apart. Ages 12–up.

Starred review from April 1, 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 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2023
Two teens trapped at summer camp confront their feelings about their history and senses of self in this contemporary graphic novel. After "the incident," Dylan, a White nonbinary teen, and Leighton, a biracial asexual girl, face a threat to their futures at high school unless they can demonstrate personal growth to the counselors at a summer camp for kids with behavior challenges. Although they were once close friends, conflicting desires for their relationship and the disapproval of Leighton's parents have created a rift between them that even their paper-airplane notes struggle to fly across. Losing Leighton is what Dylan fears most, but they have always prioritized her feelings before their own. Meanwhile, Leighton battles her own frustration that her family (especially her mom) and Dylan refuse to accept more than one part of her identity: She is Black and White, an artist and an athlete, and in love but uninterested in dating or sex. The narration flips between their two perspectives, indicated by illustrations of rocket ships for Dylan and pink roller skates for Leighton. Flashbacks in between scenes at camp, cued visually by a faded color palette and yellowed pages, reveal the story of their relationship. Tension builds as each memory, beginning with the first time they connected, ramps up toward the climactic incident. The art depicts diversity in the world, including casual representation of fatness. A queer coming-of-age story that embraces the mess and complexity of identity and relationships. (Graphic fiction. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from April 15, 2023
Grades 7-11 *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.

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