Paper Airplanes - Softcover

O'Porter, Dawn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1419716557 ISBN 13: 9781419716553

Publisher: Amulet Paperbacks, 2015

Synopsis

Renée and Flo are the most unlikely of friends. Introspective and studious Flo and outspoken, wild, and sexually curious Renée have barely spoken in their years of going to school together in Guernsey, a small British island off the coast of France. And yet, when tragedy strikes, it is only wild child Renée, who lost her mother at a young age, who is able to comfort a grieving Flo. The girls form an intense bond that sees them through a host of deeply relatable, wince-inducing experiences—drunken snogging; a séance in which clueless friends offer to summon Renée’s mother; dating a guy for free fish and chips. But toxic mean girls and personal betrayals threaten to tear the girls’ delicate new friendship apart.
In this gripping debut, Dawn O’Porter shines an unflinchingly honest, humorous light on female friendship, lost innocence, and that moment when you are teetering on the threshold of adult life.

Praise for Paper Airplanes
"Dawn O'Porter was a teenager in her past life. Well, duh! How else could she have gotten this bitch-perfect, debut novel so right! Paper Aeroplanes is spot on! This teen friendship, is
brutal and beautiful, flawed and forgiving. The angst and anguish of adolescence are made safer by her talented hand. Wish she had written this when I was 15!"
--Jamie Lee Curtis

"Poignant and edgy, this exploration of lively female friendships rises high."
--Kirkus Reviews
 

About this title

About the Author:

Dawn O’Porter is a British journalist known for her frank and often comedic investigations of women’s issues, including weight, breast cancer, and self-esteem. She has made documentaries for the BBC, TLC, We TV, and others. She also writes a column for Glamour UK. She lives in L.A. and New York with her husband, actor Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids, Girls). Visit her online at dawnoporter.co.uk.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 10 Up—In this captivating and at times gritty debut, O'Porter presents a funny and poignant coming-of-age friendship of Flo and Renée. It's 1994, and the 15-year-olds are each facing their share of troubles on the small British island of Guernsey. Flo's parents have split up, and she's dealing with a critical mother at home and an incredibly domineering best friend at school. Renée is an extroverted troublemaker at school, but feels like a stranger in the home she shares with her bulimic younger sister and emotionally unavailable grandparents. The girls bond over the shared experience of familial tragedy and become close friends, exchanging notes on paper airplanes and finding in each other the support they crave. Readers will be drawn into the story, which moves quickly through alternating first-person narrations, which also serves to reveal potential cracks in the teens' bond. By the end, each girl comes to learn the importance of friendship and forgiveness and that the past, while not forgotten, doesn't have to define you. Though their behavior can be frustrating at times—Flo not standing up to mean girl Sally; Renée secretly having sex with Flo's older brother (in a scene that is entirely more heartbreaking than risqué)—readers will root for the pair and will also eagerly await the sequel.—Amanda Mastrull, Library Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: Amulet Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1419716557
• ISBN 13: 9781419716553
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288