Will & Whit

April 1, 2013
There are three things to know about 16-year-old Willhemena Huckstep: she always describes people by saying there are three things you should know about them, she’s smart and funny, and something has made her afraid of the dark. Fortunately, some quirky friends—Autumn, who makes puppets, and Noel, who’s secretly in love with Autumn—and the diversions of tropical storm Whitney and a community art event offer Will the support she needs. Gulledge (Page by Paige) creates engaging characters (especially Reese, Noel’s precocious younger sister), and draws them with believable expressiveness. The shadows that haunt Will are visible to readers and drop plenty of hints about her story, like the gray image of a destroyed car that appears as the shadow of an ordinary one as Will cycles by. Trauma and creativity, strength in community, and truth-telling are all thoughtfully examined, and the jokes are good, too: “This cookie’s ruined!” Autumn announces to Noel. “Someone licked it,” she says, licking it. “How tragic!” Gulledge’s values are wholesome, and her energy is up-to-the-minute fresh. Ages 12–up. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writers House. (May)■

May 1, 2013

Gr 7 Up-Sixteen-year-old Will is afraid of the dark, so she creates light. More specifically, she creates things that emit light: lamps. Since her parents died in a car accident about a year earlier, she's busied herself with her craft in addition to helping her aunt with the family business, Foxxden Antiques. When a storm comes to town (the titular Whit) and causes a blackout, Will is forced to deal with her greatest fear without the benefit of her most important coping mechanism. How she chooses to do so enables her to redefine herself with courage and hope in the light of her tragic loss. The most striking feature about Gulledge's second graphic novel is the organic nature of the layouts. Action and dialogue flow smoothly from panel to panel, barely acknowledging their confines. Thick, sumptuous lines separate characters from richly detailed backgrounds, and this is all done in black and white. Gulledge populates her story with unique and likable characters who relate easily and naturally to one another. Will and Whit is a big step up from Page by Paige (Abrams, 2011), showing a little more narrative range and, perhaps, a taste of things to come.-J. M. Poole, Webster Public Library, NY

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Starred review from April 15, 2013
After the untimely death of her parents, an artistic girl living with her aunt must face her fears. Willhemena Huckstep--Will for short--is planning on spending a perfectly quiet summer working at her aunt's antiques shop, making lamps and spending time with her friends. Two fateful events quickly steer her plans off course: a chance meeting with a group of teens who are putting together an eclectic carnival and a savage summer storm named Whitney that will plunge her town into a prolonged blackout in its wake. Offbeat Will is scared of the dark (her lamp-making skills came from her grandfather, who taught her how to make her first night light). In confronting the darkness, both literal and figurative, though, Will finds herself stronger and happier than she could have imagined. Peppered with pop-culture references from Doctor Who to The Hunger Games and supported by Gulledge's stylish black-and-white illustrations, this sophomore offering shines as bright as the lamps Will surrounds herself with. Will is an intensely likable character, as are her funky group of friends. With its emphasis on a world wonderfully unplugged, maybe this will jar some readers' memories about how excellent and exciting a life without Facebook and Twitter can be. Quirky, clever and insightful; a must-read for fans of Raina Telgemeier. (Graphic fiction. 12 & up)

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May 15, 2013
Grades 7-10 Across the reaches of YA-targeted media, it's rare to find a work with such a relentlessly upbeat tone and sense of uncompromising positivity as those found in this graphic novel. As with her Eisner-nominated debut, Page by Paige (2011), Gulledge uses relationships, dialogue, font choice, and, most significantly, the bold lines of her figures and solid, forthright faces of her characters to fuel a world suffused with sunshine (though she uses the image of her protagonist's shadow to compelling effect, too). This is all the more remarkable given the story, in which Wilhelmina Huckstep faces the recent death of her parents, an abiding fear of the dark, and a storm headed for her small town. Though the storm causes a blackout, Will and her friends bond with a group of visiting performers. As troubles both romantic and personal come to a head, Gulledge's dialogue can occasionally feel saccharine and stilted, but the situations and emotions are all highly teen-relevant and hope is never less than a palpable presence.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)