This one took a while to grow on me, I wasn't sure how I felt about it as I read it but the more time I spent with the story, the more I enjoyed it. The moments of sweetness, of friendship, of discovery are really meaningful.

Paper Planes is a graphic novel with a bittersweet taste. The non-binary and ace representation was nice, but representation sometimes isn’t enough. The timeline was confusing an difficult to follow, and the storytelling was not all that clear. However, the depiction of finding who you are in your teenage years was spot on!

Thank you to NetGalley and Jennie Wood for the ARC!

Paper Planes is a graphic novel that follows Dylan and Leighton at a summer camp for troubled youth and the events that led up to them being sent there.

This book was so bittersweet and so relatable. I loved the way the author talked about identity and exploring who you are. I also really liked how the author explored friendship and how sometimes friendships don't last forever. This was a realistic representation of the struggles of adolescence and growing up.

My only complaints would be the pacing the novel and the past and present timelines. Sometimes it felt like a million things were happening at once and then nothing at all. Also, sometimes it was hard to tell when they were in the present or in the past or who was speaking.

Overall, a really enjoyable read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of 'Paper Planes' by Jennie Wood.

I love the idea of this graphic novel but the way that the story went was just heartbreaking. When you have to live to please others you can't be true to yourself or those who know you best. Two best friends stuck together at camp after a horrible accident find themselves continually pushed apart from outside and internal pressures.

This book felt too much like real life more me to enjoy. I know how important it is for kids to see themselves represented and to see their lives represented and this book touched, if very lightly, on many of these things but the overall story was just so real and so heartbreaking that I couldn't love it as much as I wanted to. I know that real life doesn't have a happy ending (at least much of the time) but it's not what I want in my reading.

This was such a cute story and I will absolutely be picking up a physical copy when I can!

The story is a familiar coming-of-age arc that tackles on topics that should be explored with youth and elders alike. Dylan and Leighton are the two main characters with significantly different backgrounds. They had not become friends because they felt different from everyone around them but enjoyed quality time together. This allowed the two characters to be unfiltered and explore themselves unapologetically. It is not until outside forces make them not only question who they are but also actively try to change the characters into something more acceptable to the people around them.

No matter if you represent the LGBTQ+ or an ally, situations like these often are what youth deal with just as they are starting to come to terms with who they are wanting to be. Although short, the graphic novel was able to show the two extremes of what could happen when children/teens are feeling ostracized from socialization or accepted as their true selves.

I love queer graphic novels. If you've ever read a review of mine, then I probably sound like a broken record. I have really appreciated reading about different queer identities lately, and graphic novels have been a great resource for expanding the diversity of my reading. I've never read a graphic novel with an ace or non-binary protagonist, so it was a joy to be treated to both.

I loved the narrative and the message. Oh how quickly someone who means so much to you can drift away. There is a sense of hope throughout this graphic novel. If you've ever lost someone you cared about, if you've loved them long enough to watch them become a stranger, this will pull at your heartstrings. I loved that Leighton and Dylan reconnected. They had both changed a lot, but that was okay.

The story shifts between the past and the present. The emotions of the characters in the present are fuelled by their encounters in the past, and I loved how the art tied into this aspect of the storytelling. The moments in the junkyard and the uncomfortable experiences at camp were the most engaging. There were quite a few moments that made me cringe because they reminded me of difficult experiences I had at school. The depiction of adolescence is brilliant, and I really enjoyed the multitude of themes.

The timeline was a little difficult to follow. This didn't stop me from enjoying the story, and I would definitely recommend it to those who love graphic novels!

Paper Planes by Jennie Wood is a YA graphic novel that follows the relationship between Leighton and Dylan. The two have previously been inseparable, but now they're spending the summer in a camp for troubled youth and their friendship is obviously strained. The story timeline alternates between the past and present and readers are given insight into the characters' friendship, their relationships with their families and peers, and their own personal internal struggles.

I really enjoyed Paper Planes, especially the significance of actual paper planes to the characters in the book. The characters in this graphic novel are well developed. I enjoyed getting to know both Leighton and Dylan and I was able to understand each of their motivations for the choices they made thanks to a well developed plot. We get to know many side characters as well and each has a varying degree of importance in the story. I liked the way that the author chose not to reveal WHY Dylan and Leighton were in the camp until close to the end of the book...that tidbit helped keep me engaged in reading and I was eager to finish so I could figure out what happened. I liked that the characters were facing various conflicts throughout the book and that some were resolved while others were left a bit open-ended. Overall, I felt like the characters and the story are relatable and since they are SO different, I feel that many readers will be able to related to one of them in some way.

I would recommend this graphic novel to YA/high school readers, particularly those that are interested in graphic novels and/or realistic fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios for the opportunity to review an eARC of this title.

A quick read that explores a storyline I haven’t read very often before. I found it somewhat difficult to get into as the time jumps seemed a bit sudden at times. Beside that the drawings were really well matched to the story and I’m glad I was able to read it!

Thank you NetGalley/publisher for providing me with the eARC of Paper Planes in exchange of my honest review.
I loved the art style and the pace of the story. I loved all the reps shown in the graphic novel. The characters were lovable and the storyline was good.

I loved reading this graphic novel. I loved how the author explores friendship through paper planes. The art work is great as well as the writing. Very simple and straightforward.

Thank you to Mad Cave Studios and NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
Overall I enjoyed this! I rated it 3.75, rounding up to 4 due to NetGalley's rating system. It’s probably been my favorite or second favorite of the graphic novels I’ve gotten from NetGalley so far. I liked the art style and overall I found the story engaging. However, personally I’m not the biggest fan of stories where essentially everyone in the story is unlikable which this book started falling into especially as it got to the end.
While I appreciate that they’re young and that they depicted teens as complicated and morally grey people trying to figure things out, it’s still not my ideal preference to read about. I did appreciate that the ending was hopeful though, and that the characters did have some positive things happen to them throughout the book instead of it being entirely negative plot points.

I love that the overall theme of this book is paper planes. The author uses this to move the story and I find it very captivating. The message of the story had me gripped until the end. I really liked that the author showed growth with the characters in a realistic way.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. The way the author used the paper planes to move the story along was unique. This is a great coming of age story about discovering yourself and who your friends truly are. Recommended for all teen graphic novel collections.

Inreally liked it but would have loved tonsee more happy moments but maybe that's just not reality. I think it's important to keep reminding ourself that LGBTQIA+ still have to fight for rights that seem so normal. The story waq good and the graphics were on point.

This is a graphic novel about friendship, responsibility & finding yourself. Both the mc’s are queer: Dylan is nonbinary (they/them) & I think Leighton is aroace but not fully sure. There were numerous comments about her not liking boys or girls.

The plot: it’s set at a camp for kids in trouble at school. They’re evaluated at the end & depending on the outcome, it determines whether they go to a normal high school or one for misbehaving kids which will be a red flag on their college profile. The two mc’s are childhood best friends but their relationship is going through turmoil due to miscommunication & individual identity crisis’.

The characters: I’ll be honest, they were VERY annoying at times like I just wanted to tell them how stupid some things were or what to do right. But I think this is the intention, it makes them seem more real cause there’s not many teenagers who never act stupidly. My favourite part was the queer & bipoc rep though. That made it feel more real too as it’s not all cis-straight white kids. I also liked how most of the adults were accepting of Dylan’s queerness.

So yeah, I definitely recommend this if you like graphic novels & want a wholesome story, even if it isn’t a happy ever after!

This was a really great graphic novel. It follows friends at summer camp, which as an Australian was hard to connect too but the characters were so well built that it didn't matter. Give this book to your teens and preteens. Such a great telling that it's ok to not fit in and to be yourself. The author really explained the ins and outs of trans and non binary youths as well as not fitting in with the image society wanted for you including their families in a way that made it relatable to anyone.

I would have loved for a book like this to be out when I was a kid. I was smiling the whole time and getting annoyed with people not truly understanding that kids need support to accept who they are and grow.

Fue muy interesante leer esta novela gráfica, no solo por el dibujo, sino por la trama y la elección de personajes.
Tiene diversidad, un giro de trama intenso y un desarrollo de personajes gigante. El autodescubrimiento es algo que valoro que se trate bien en cuanto a una novela, y esta se superó.
En cuanto a la FMC no me gustó mucho porque sentía que le faltaba un poco de background story, siento que eso le fue en contra como para empatizar con ella.

This is my first review of a Graphic Novel but I will say I loved this one. It addresses the issue of being a teenager in the LGBTQ+ community and some of the feelings and scenarios that happen. I loved all the characters in this story and the way things were portrayed. The art in the book as well was amazing and I loved how the color of the pages would identify scenes from the past and present. In the future, I would read this novel again or even read a sequel as well. Thank you, NetGalley and Jennie Wood for my copy of Paper Planes.

The artwork was really pretty and the representations of different characters was nice. I loved that this story showed that friendships can change and that it is okay.

But there are also a few things that I missed. I wished there was more depth in the story over all. I missed some details, more in depth characters thoughts etc. It just was a little flat for me.
Also the time jumps back to the present time were not always that obvious so sometimes I missed were we were in the story.

Over all I did really like the story and would recommend it.

Former best friends Dylan & Leighton are sent to summer camp for troubled youth after an incident during the school year. They try to salvage their friendship while looking at who they want to be in the future. Throughout the book we are shown through flashbacks what their relationship used to be like and what happened to send them to camp.

I really liked this book, although it felt like it took to much time getting to why they were sent to camp. It really brought me back to my high school years & the realization that maybe my friends are not allowing me to be my best self.