Finding out where you fit in life can be really difficult. What is your dress style? What music do you like best and will you use this to represent you? Is honesty and openness always the best policy when it comes to friends you think are better and more interesting than you?

Paige Turner (ha, yep, clever), is at that age where the rest of her life is coming into focus, but much of it is still blurry. She spends a lot of time clumsily navigating in her new city, and trying to find a place in her new group of friends, while missing old relationships. In this book, writer Laura Lee Gulledge does a terrific job of making Paige a character you can relate to very quickly, and at the same time, envy what she has.

Paige is a hell of an artist, and has a real knack for expressing herself, and spends most of the book following a set of rules her grandmother laid forth a long time ago to not only to make you a better artist, but a better person in general. The story is warm, charming and full of sugary sweetness, inspiration, trust and caring of friends, a budding relationship and tons of feel good moments.

The artwork inside of the book is gorgeous, often wrapping all around the page, with illustrator Gulledge not afraid to take the readers on a visual stroll that is engaging and distracting at the same time, much like an amusement park. Personally, I spent several minutes on more than a handful of pages just pouring over the wonderful artwork.

Paige and her friends create several works of art around the city, ranging from paintings to easter eggs full of random things, with this book screaming that young folks (and really all people) can do great and wonderful things when they work together, and that the experience can be more rewarding when shared in a project.

Bottom Line: I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who has a creative streak, and honestly, this would be on my recommended reading list for young girls 10-16. If you have a young lady in your life who is interested in comics, art, music or some form of creative outlet, then do her a favor and grab this book. The artwork is vibrant, stunning and extremely fascinating. Not only for young readers and one I am sure will easily make it onto my personal “best of” list of 2011.

So I am a few years behind on reading . . .  and missing gems like this is tragic! One of those I promised I would pick up once it was collected, somehow, I just never got around to it until recently. And let me tell you, I regret this immensely!

Wonderfully drawn by J. M. Ken Niimura and a terrific story supplied by Joe Casey, I KILL GIANTS is the tale of a precocious and rambunctious gal named Barbara, who spends a great deal of time losing herself in her fantasy world, pushing people away, trying hard to avoid the problems at home.

Bottom Line: Another one to pick up if you passed it over. Wonderful story coupled with great art (and a low cover price) make this a great gift to yourself or another. Fans of fantasy will be thrilled with this book.