Critical Review Essay Norman Rockwell

When the story opens, Paige and her family have newly moved to New York City, cutting her off from old friends and awakening all sorts of insecurities. On the advice of her artist grandmother, Paige purchases a sketchbook and as she battles with her mother through a series of misunderstandings and adjusts to life as the new kid in school, Paige fills her pages with all her worries. The text is peppered with questions and challenges as she sets forth in her pursuit of being the most honest Paige she can be. These challenges range from bluntly taking chances to facing her fears, which includes dumping her "Jane Eyre Complex," as defined by Gulledge "when a plain ordinary girl hopes someone will notice her awesomeness and pluck her from obscurity." I love this term and definition so much I want to make a poster of it.

Ultimately, of course, Paige works it all out, making some good friends and becoming comfortable in her own skin. The journey really is the destination here and Gulledge does such an excellent job at pulling the reader into Paige's experience that she manages to make her story personal; it will likely resonate a great deal with teens who have found themselves on a similar personal quest. Finally, I can't say enough good things about the artwork. In a realistic style, Gulledge captures the characters with absolutely dead-on facial expressions and is particularly good at Paige's changing looks as she imagines herself in a variety of fanciful situations. There is almost a collage feeling to the artwork here, in the variety of ways Paige views the world and finds her answers. Far more philosophical than you have a right to expect, Gulledge is the real deal for all the teens who will embrace this book; I hope she's in YA to stay.