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Paper Girls, Volume 1

Brian K. Vaughan

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Similar in premise + setting

These books are ranked using the premise + setting labels extracted for Paper Girls, Volume 1. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Premise labels used: paper route, teen girls, suburban mystery, time-travel crisis, otherworldly invasion, first job, coming-of-age

Setting labels used: 1980s, late 80s, 1988, post-Halloween, suburban America, Cleveland suburb, small town, nostalgic period setting, alternate reality

This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their premise + setting embeddings are close.

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Paper Girls: The Complete Story

Brian K. Vaughan · 2021 · Paper Girls

Four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls are swept into a chaotic time-travel mystery that tests friendship and identity.

Why this is here

Premise labels: paper delivery girls · time travel · coming of age · female friendship · first jobs · suburban mystery · world-ending event · parallel selves

Setting labels: 1988 · Cleveland, Ohio · suburban setting · future settings · past settings · multi-era · time rifts · interdimensional reality · Halloween night · 1980s nostalgia

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.0984

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Paper Girls, Book One

Brian K. Vaughan · 2017 · Paper Girls

Four 12-year-old paper girls in 1988 are swept into a strange time-travel mystery that keeps widening out of control.

Why this is here

Premise labels: four girls · newspaper delivery · time travel · mystery · coming of age · parallel timelines · parallel universes · future invasion · girls on bikes · suburban weirdness

Setting labels: 1988 · 1980s · post-Halloween · Cleveland · suburban setting · future setting · alternate timelines · multiverse · present/future collision

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1185

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Rocket Girl Volume 1: Times Squared

Brandon Montclare · 2014 · Rocket Girl (Collected Editions)

A teenage future cop time-travels to 1986 New York to stop a corporation and uncover why her world may not exist.

Why this is here

Premise labels: teen cop · time travel mission · alternate future · corporate conspiracy · save the future · investigation

Setting labels: 1986 New York City · alternate 2013 · high-tech future · dystopian future · 1980s urban setting · alternate reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2178

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One Word Kill

Mark Lawrence · 2019 · Impossible Times

A teen math prodigy with leukemia and a D&D friend group gets pulled into a time-travel mystery that could save a girl.

Why this is here

Premise labels: time travel · teenage genius · terminal illness · D&D group · save the girl · future visitor · impossible mystery · coming of age · multiverse

Setting labels: 1980s · 1986 · London · South London · urban setting · British setting · 1980s teen life · pre-digital era

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2280

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Portal

Imogen Rose · 2010 · Portal Chronicles

A tomboy hockey player wakes in an alternate life as a cheerleader and must untangle what changed—and why.

Why this is here

Premise labels: alternate reality · time travel · identity swap · double life · family mystery · hidden portal · changed life · second chance · parallel world · teen romance

Setting labels: California · New Jersey · alternate dimension · alternate universe · past and present · high school · teen world · suburban

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2408

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The Unusual Second Life of Thomas Weaver

Shawn Inmon · 2016 · Middle Falls Time Travel

A guilt-ridden man dies by suicide and wakes in his teenage body, given one strange chance to redo his life.

Why this is here

Premise labels: second chance · do-over · life reliving · time travel twist · midlife reset · teenage body, adult mind · redo the past · change the future · prevention mission · redemption arc

Setting labels: 1970s · 2016 · high school · small town · middle America · analog era · nostalgic past · contemporary frame · multiple timelines

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2478

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It's the End of the World and I'm in My Bathing Suit

Justin A. Reynolds · 2022 · It's the End of the World and I'm in My Bathing Suit

A Black tween’s laundry-avoidance scheme derails into a blackout mystery that leaves him and his friends alone in the neighborhood.

Why this is here

Premise labels: laundry avoidance · summer vacation · end-of-the-world mystery · kids left behind · blackout · beach day

Setting labels: contemporary suburb · Cleveland suburb · Lake Erie · summer break · neighborhood setting · post-blackout · modern day

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2489

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Lost Boys

Orson Scott Card · 1994

A Mormon family’s move to North Carolina brings everyday tensions, eerie friendships, and a slow-building threat to their young son.

Why this is here

Premise labels: missing children · family crisis · imaginary friends · child endangerment · small-town mystery · secret evil · parental fear

Setting labels: 1980s · early 1980s · North Carolina · small Southern town · suburban neighborhood · workplace setting · church community · household setting · real-world setting · contemporary setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2492

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Moonleapers

Margaret Peterson Haddix · 2025 · Moonleapers

A lonely sixth grader’s hand-me-down phone leads her into a secret time-travel network, riddles, and a mission to change history.

Why this is here

Premise labels: mysterious texts · secret network · time travelers · hidden mission · first phone · family move · caretaking summer · blank book · code breaking · puzzle solving

Setting labels: Ohio · Maryland · summer · middle school · nursing home · senior center · gated community · WWII · 1940s · future · alternate timeline · contemporary world · historical fiction overlay · real-world setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2555

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Stranger Things: Rebel Robin

A.R. Capetta · 2021 · Stranger Things

A queer 1980s teen tries to fit in, then realizes the only escape she needs is becoming herself.

Why this is here

Premise labels: coming of age · self-discovery · closeted teen · gay awakening · small-town escape · prequel backstory · identity quest

Setting labels: 1980s · 1983 · 1984 · Hawkins · small town · high school · Indiana · school band · AIDS era · pre-show timeline

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2569

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Weave a Circle Round

Kari Maaren · 2017

A quiet teen’s life unravels when strange neighbors arrive next door and pull her into a mythic time-travel mystery.

Why this is here

Premise labels: new neighbors · hidden identity · time travel · family mystery · coming of age · cosmic choice · reality distortion · suburban uncanny · mysterious neighbors · ordinary life disrupted

Setting labels: suburbia · high school · contemporary Canada · British Columbia · neighborhood · alternate history · time travel · mythic reality · house with strange properties · multiple eras

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2571

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The Motherless Oven

Rob Davis · 2014 · The Motherless Oven

A teen with only weeks to live sets out with two unlikely friends to find his missing father in a bizarre knife-raining world.

Why this is here

Premise labels: death deadline · missing parent · bizarre world · teen quest · search adventure · runaway trip · surreal coming of age

Setting labels: alternate world · surreal suburbia · school setting · British setting · knife weather · cyclical world · retro technology · domestic uncanny

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2573

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