The Tragedy Paper

Entertainment Weekly, January 4, 2013:
“LaBan’s debut — reminiscent of Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why — compassionately illustrates the tragedy of withholding love and friendship, or worse, never having the courage to seek them out.”

Starred Review, Booklist, November 15, 2012:
“Debut novelist LaBan takes us into the private school culture as well as the heads of two charming yet very different teenage boys and their parallel love stories… Nonexistent parents, well-intentioned, likeable faculty on the periphery, elaborate dorm rooms with overstuffed closets, even the romantic, snow-covered campus all contribute to a setting that adds to the story’s heft and intrigue.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 8, 2013:
“This novel is relatable and unusually gripping, even for an older reader – full of slings and arrows and outrageous fortune…Romantic love, hard work, loyalty, friendship, suffering: Like the great tragedies that inspired the novel, it’s all here. LaBan’s take on adolescent life is rendered in the sweet, intelligent tradition of John Irving, but without any of the prep-school genre’s self-satisfaction.”

HelloGiggles.com
“The Tragedy Paper is about how hard it can be not to belong, and how far we’ll go just to feel like we do. It’s an absolutely fantastic book.”

School Library Journal, February 2013:
“Strong plotting and characterization make Tim and Vanessa come to life for readers as much as for Duncan, whose understanding of tragedy becomes almost overwhelmingly acute.”

Booklist, February 2013:
“An engaging tale told by a boy rendered an outsider by his appearance, full of passion and almost unrequited love, signifying the heartbreaks and melodramas of high school.”

The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, February 2013:
“An engaging tale told by a boy rendered an outsider by his appearance, full of passion and almost unrequited love, signifying the heartbreaks and melodramas of high school.”