I’m back with another installment of this year’s Summer Reading Guide and this one is dedicated to graphic novels! It always bears repeating that graphic novels aren’t just what many of today’s kids prefer to read, they’re also helping to build the stamina for reading that is in increasingly short supply in this age of digital media and instant gratification. Lean in, I implore you!
I’m particularly proud of this list, because I’ve been generally less-than-enthused with graphic novels in the past year or so. The storylines, especially in contemporary realistic fiction, have started to feel painfully similar (and less and less well written). The YA graphic novels are just downright weird. I could go on, but I’m merely making the point that I am really, really excited about the titles I’ve picked below. These needles in the haystack feel fresh in the best sense, with unique storylines, stunning art, or twists on old favorites. Or, if they aren’t introducing anything new, they’re at least doing it as well as the Greats who made graphic novels so attractive to these kids in the first place.
Nine of the books below are for the middle-grade audience (ages 8-12), while two are for teens (Dan in Green Gables and Alanna). (If you’re looking for graphic novels for the 6-9 set, check out this earlier post.) I hope your kids love them all.
Good Boy
by Andy Hirsch
Ages 8-12 (208 pages)
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a (fictional) book for this age pack in more dog content. This is a dog lover’s dream, and Andy Hirsch’s high energy art is perfectly matched to its subject matter (he previously illustrated all the dogs in Science Comics). If your kid read last year’s wonderful (non-illustrated) middle-grade novel, The Underdogs of Upson Downs, and thought, that was nice but I really wish they’d dug into that agility training part, Good Boy is your answer. Charlie’s tendency to let his nerves get the best of him often amounts to him barfing in public—bonus points for some pretty great gross-out humor here—so his parents decide to see if the presence of a rescue dog at home might help. Charlie and Ralph get off to a rough start before they realize they have much to learn from one another. With encouragement from a teacher at school, Charlie enrolls them both in agility training to strengthen their relationship, but what starts as a way to have fun together quickly turns higher stakes. Can Ralph handle it? Can Charlie?
The Cartoonists Club
by Raina Telgemeier & Scott McCloud
Ages 8-12 (288 pages)
Raina Telgemeier, undisputed queen of middle-grade graphic novels, and Scott McCloud, whose adult book, Understanding Comics, is still the Bible for comics creators, have teamed up to tell the story of a group of kids who convince their library media specialist to help them start an after-school club for making comics. If you’re worried, like I was, that this would feel didactic, rest assured it’s quite the opposite. It’s a giant nerd fest for graphic novel enthusiasts, and even your Dog Man loving boys will eat it up. It honors so many different components of comics making, from typography choices to when to let the visuals do the talking, at the same time that it speaks to the challenges of collaboration and the paralysis of perfectionism. There’s a trippy dive sequence into the blank page itself, to discuss how intimidating it can feel. There are comics-within-comics, some about anthropomorphized tofu dogs and chicken nuggets and others showcasing the way comics can make us feel all the things. I just wish all parent skeptics would read The Cartoonists Club and appreciate how much creativity and intelligence goes into this art form!
Dan in Green Gables
by Rey Terciero & Claudia Aguirre
Ages 12+ (256 pages)
I’m here for all the Anne of Green Gables re-tellings but this one, starring a queer 90s boy against a backdrop of Smoky Mountains and Dolly Parton, is now my favorite, as much for its creative nods to the original as to the way it gracefully and thought provokingly raises themes of religion, generational trauma, inclusivity, and self-worth. Dan in Green Gables is penned with great affection by Rey Terciero (you may know him by his other name, Rex Ogle, author of Free Lunch), who draws on his own memories of visiting his grandparents, including taking refuge in the world of L.M. Montgomery, though he bestows on his story the happy ending he was robbed of in real life. Dan Stewart-Álvarez doesn’t even know of his grandparents’ existence until his mother abandons him at their house in rural Tennessee. His conversational bluntness and nontraditional fashion choices aren’t exactly a natural fit for the Southern Baptist community, and while his grandmother is quick to embrace his differences, his grandfather remains aloof and insulting, infusing the story with rising tension. But Dan has a knack for building community, and he just may be the creative force the town (and his own family) needs.
Creaky Acres
by Calista Brill & Nilah Magruder
Ages 8-12 (272 pages)
Throw some horses into Kayla Miller’s Click series or Victoria Jamieson’s Roller Girl and you’d get Creaky Acres, as rich in its portrait of navigating the awkwardness of middle school friendships as in the thrill of competitive riding and the coziness of barn life. Nora is the star of her riding team, but when her mom’s job moves them to a new town, it proves as hard adjusting to a new barn as it does being the only Black girl at her new school. Barn life has always been Nora’s happy place, but Creaky Acres takes a decidedly less formal approach to riding, and the barn kids seem decidedly more ragamuffin than her old friends. But if Nora can set aside some of her preconceived ideas about her favorite hobby, she just might find a community where she’s perfectly poised to be both leader and learner. In short, this graphic novel is a horse kid’s dream (great boy rep, too!).
Speechless
by Aron Nels Steinke
Ages 8-12 (256 pages)
Friends and frenemies, social anxiety and school projects, a healing creative outlet in stop-motion animation and righteous indignation that no one around you understands anything?! That’s the magic recipe behind Speechless, Aron Nels Steinke’s foray into realistic fiction (Mr. Wolf’s Class is a perennial favorite in our house). Mira had counted on middle school being her chance at a fresh start, but it has been nothing but rough. For one, her selective mutism, triggered by social anxiety, is still present. As if being regularly teased—or, worse, having other people speak for you and get it wrong—at school wasn’t enough, Mira’s parents have invited Chloe, her Number One Enemy and former bestie to stay with them for a few months. Good thing Mira has her online channel, where she shares her popular stop-motion animation videos under an alias—that is, until her falling grades convince her parents that she must give up the one thing she’s good at. Can Mira convince them that her creativity can be the catalyst to change before she throws in the towel on middle school completely?
Tamora Pierce’s Song of a Lioness: Alanna
by Vita Ayala & Sam Beck
Ages 12+ (256 pages)
I didn’t discover Tamora Pierce’s feminist fantasies until I was eighteen and working at a children’s bookstore, but I fell fast for the character of Alanna, a young noblewoman from the kingdom of Tortall, who disguises herself as a boy for the chance to train as a page on the quest to become a knight, though she also possesses the (often unruly) magic of a great sorceress. And now—ohhhh myyyy gooooodness—the original Song of the Lioness quartet is being adapted into graphic novels, beginning with Alanna, the first title, and the result is nothing short of extraordinary. The art is gorgeous and the text is meaty. The world building is rich, the magic and resulting mayhem is dark and broody, and the battles are action-packed. Fantasy lovers of all genders will inhale this classic, with themes as timely as ever.
Cassi and the House of Memories
by Dean Stuart
Ages 8-12 (272 pages)
With some of the most stunning art of the year, Cassi and the House of Memories is a time-travelling fever dream, where a girl journeys into her grandfather’s “memory palace” to connect with him through his dementia. Cassi loves spending time with her grandfather—playing music, getting whistling lessons, listening to his stories—only lately he has been losing the thread in their conversations, sometimes even abruptly failing to recognize her. One day, outside in the backyard, he wanders off, and Cassi’s frantic search for him leads to a maze-like structure with hanging pictures that serve as portals into Grandpa Charlie’s most formative memories. It’s a race against time, for while Cassi is able to journey into the past and interact with her grandfather as a young man, uncovering the layers to some of his most guarded secrets, the pictures themselves threaten to deteriorate before she has a chance to get the two of them safely out. Cassi’s warm affection for Grandpa is highlighted by luminous spreads interspersed between darker, dramatic sequences of suspense.
Creature Clinic
by Gavin Aung Than
Ages 8-12 (224 pages)
Holy hydra heads! Introducing Creature Clinic, the most charming graphic novel of the year: all the medical procedures and intra-residence drama of Grey’s Anatomy but make it magical! Give this story about the world’s finest (and only) hospital for mythical beings to your fans of Hilo or anything mythology related. There’s nothing quite like seeing a minotaur as the best nurse in the business (if he can just get his two heads to agree), except maybe a griffin taking his first flight following a wing transplant. Then again, the Tooth Fairy being treated for Fairy Flatulence Syndrome or Cerberus getting a flea bath or a basilisk’s tooth extraction are pretty entertaining. Actually, I stand corrected: the loquacious, heart-of-gold janitor named Oblong Orange the Third is actually my VERY FAVORITE. (Bonus points for also raising themes of class, privilege, prejudice, and empathy.)
Heidi
adapted by Mariah Marsden; illus. Ofride
Ages 8-12 (224 pages)
Johanna Spyri’s beloved orphan classic is the latest to get Mariah Marsden’s magic touch (her previous adaptations were The Secret Garden and Anne of Green Gables), and Heidi’s unbridled curiosity and joy for the Swiss mountaintop (and its bleating goats) on which she finds a new home with her reclusive grandfather come through in every narrative decision. But the choice of having Ofride—alias of Italian illustrator Elena Bia, who grew up in a small town near the Alps—illustrate Heidi is perfection. The natural beauty of the surroundings is palpable in the art, as is the tenderness in Heidi’s relationships, especially as she softens the heart of her grandfather, charms her new friend Clara’s protective family, and makes mischief with the shepherd boy. A multi-page afterward reveals more about the flora and fauna of the Alps, tending goats, and the history of wheelchairs.
Sea Legs
by Jules Bakes & Niki Smith
Ages 8-12 (256 pages)
What if you spent middle school on a boat in the Caribbean, sharing tight quarters with your parents, doing school by mail, snorkeling through coral reefs, docking to explore colorful markets, and trying desperately to find someone around your age to hang out with? Sea Legs, based on the author’s own experience as a child, explores the ebbs and flow of an adolescence at sea, after Janey says goodbye to school and her best friend in Florida to set sail on a vessel her dad made himself. The peeks into boat life are fun and fascinating, but the real draw here is Janey’s emotional growth, especially in navigating the stormy seas of old versus new friendships, burgeoning independence versus parental control. Special mention goes to the art, which is gorgeous in rich turquoises and reds!
Chickenpox
by Remy Lai
Ages 8-12 (240 pages)
In this graphic memoir, our twelve-year-old protagonist and narrator, Abby, compares her Indonesian home to a wild zoo, her younger siblings virtually indistinguishable in their rambunctious noise, incessant quibbles, and zero respect for Abby’s privacy. Abby resents her mom for tasking her with watching them and taking their side when they tattletale. Enter chickenpox, which puts all five siblings on lockdown, as they progress through various stages of the disease, their red spots coming dangerously close to resembling Chucky the serial killer doll (the 90s pop culture references are most excellent). On top of living in a zoo-turned-jail, Abby is caught up in friend drama, first crushes, and a sea of adolescent misunderstandings, all the trickier for having to navigate on a rotary phone from the middle of her family room! Chickenpox is a masterclass is authentic tween voice!
[One caveat: I’m sure it’s a cultural difference, but I really wish the US editor Macmillan had caught the “before I stopped believing in Santa” at the story’s beginning. So proceed with caution if you still have a believer.]
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