The graphic novel post last year gave an overview of the great graphic novel collection that LMLS has to offer. This time around, I’d like to focus on middle school (MS) and young adult (YA) graphic novels that adults should seriously consider reading for themselves. Graphic novels are more than just the swashbuckling action & adventure stories. They cover genres from biography, comedy, and science fiction, to romance, mystery, and more. Graphic novels express ideas through the medium of pictures, or graphics, either in black and white, full-color, or limited color, and words (although there are some wordless GNs), to create a visual and literary experience. Many of these MS and YA graphic novels have a serious message, tell a great story, or are just fun to read. Most are quick reads, making it easy to fit them in between other selections. Below are a few summaries of my favorite MS and YA graphic novels, plus an additional list, to get you started, all, of course, available in the Lower Merion Library System.

Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol, 2011, YA

This is the one that got me started on the road to graphic novel fandom. I absolutely love this book. High schooler and social outcast, Anya, is trying to lose weight, fit in at her third-rate private school, and look cool in front of the school’s heartthrob. After falling into a well on the way home from school one day, Anya discovers she isn’t alone and ends up becoming BFFs with someone (un-someone?) who helps with the high school drama, but soon things take a decidedly un-friendly turn. Beautifully stylized black & white drawings   make this debut novel a fun and little bit spooky read.

Boxers Saints

by Gene Luen Yang, 2013, YA

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Boxers and Saints is a two-volume graphic novel based on China’s Boxer Rebellion. The parallel stories follow two teens on opposite sides of this historical conflict, Little Bao and his fight to rid China of the “foreign devils,” and Vibiana, an unwanted fourth daughter who finds acceptance within the Christian faith. Through stylized drawings in mostly grey tones, this work brings together Chinese history and mythology in a powerfully told story. Tip: read Boxers first.

Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier, 2016, MS

Written by the author of the graphic novelization of The Babysitter’s Club and the popular GNs Smile and Sisters, Ghosts is about a family moving to the coast of Northern California to help with the younger daughter’s cystic fibrosis, and the subsequent adventures she and big sister, Cat, have exploring an abandoned boardwalk arcade and the local mission, full of ancestral ghosts. But as dia de los muertos approaches, Cat must decide how best to protect her sister while granting her biggest wish. If you’re a fan of the animated movie Coco, you’ll enjoy this graphic novel, too.

Paper Girls, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson, and Jared K. Fletcher, 2016, YA

Paper Girls follows four 12-year old girls as they begin their daily paper route in the dark hours before dawn the day after Halloween, 1988. What they think are some creeps still causing mischief turns out to be something right out of a science fiction movie. There are some gritty parts in this four-volume series, but perfect for fans of 80s nostalgia. The graphics in this fast-paced novel are well-drawn with blasts of color against a range of blues, purples and greys.

Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani, 2017, MS

Sixteen-year old Priyanka, or Pri as she prefers to be called, is a first-generation Indian American dealing with the typical high-school drama as well as the push and pull of living between two cultures. After winning $500 in a comic book writing contest, Pri finally convinces her single mother to let her visit her mausi-Meena (auntie) in India. There’s a bit of magical realism here in the form of a beautifully woven pashmina, shown in lush full-color sequences while the rest of the clean graphics are in grey tones. A Junior Library Guild Selection of 2017, as well as other awards and honors, Pashmina is an engaging and heartwarming debut novel.

Below are titles of other MS or YA graphic novels to add to your reading list:

Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova, 2015, MS

Breaking Up by Aimee Friedman and Christine Norrie, 2007, YA

Fish Girl by Donna Jo Napoli and  David Wiesner

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang, 2014, YA

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson, 2015, YA

The Professor’s Daughter by Joan Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert, 1997, YA

Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale and Nathan Hale, 2008, MS

Real Friends by Shannon Hale and Leuyen Pham, 2017, MS

The Sandman (multi-volume series) by Neil Gaiman and illustrators: Karen Berger, Mark Buckingham, Duncan Eagleson, Dick Giordano, Bob Kahan, Lovern Kindzierski, Todd Klein, Alisa Kwitney, Vince Locke, Dan McKean, Shawn McManus, Shelly Roeberg, P. Craig Russell, Bryan Talbot, Jill Thompson, Sherilyn van Valkenburgh, Danny Vozzo, John Watkiss, Kent Williams, Stan Woch, and Gene Wolfe, 1993, YA

Snow White by Matt Phelan, 2016, MS

This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, 2014, YA

by Gwen Gatto, Library Assistant at Belmont Hills Library

Not Just for Kids Anymore – MS and YA Graphic Novels for Adults!

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The graphic novel post last year gave an overview of the great graphic novel collection that LMLS has to offer. This time around, I’d like to focus on middle school (MS) and young adult (YA) graphic novels that adults should seriously consider reading for themselves. Graphic novels are more than just the swashbuckling action & adventure stories. They cover genres from biography, comedy, and science fiction, to romance, mystery, and more. Graphic novels express ideas through the medium of pictures, or graphics, either in black and white, full-color, or limited color, and words (although there are some wordless GNs), to create a visual and literary experience. Many of these MS and YA graphic novels have a serious message, tell a great story, or are just fun to read. Most are quick reads, making it easy to fit them in between other selections. Below are a few summaries of my favorite MS and YA graphic novels, plus an additional list, to get you started, all, of course, available in the Lower Merion Library System.

Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol, 2011, YA

This is the one that got me started on the road to graphic novel fandom. I absolutely love this book. High schooler and social outcast, Anya, is trying to lose weight, fit in at her third-rate private school, and look cool in front of the school’s heartthrob. After falling into a well on the way home from school one day, Anya discovers she isn’t alone and ends up becoming BFFs with someone (un-someone?) who helps with the high school drama, but soon things take a decidedly un-friendly turn. Beautifully stylized black & white drawings   make this debut novel a fun and little bit spooky read.

Boxers Saints

by Gene Luen Yang, 2013, YA

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Boxers and Saints is a two-volume graphic novel based on China’s Boxer Rebellion. The parallel stories follow two teens on opposite sides of this historical conflict, Little Bao and his fight to rid China of the “foreign devils,” and Vibiana, an unwanted fourth daughter who finds acceptance within the Christian faith. Through stylized drawings in mostly grey tones, this work brings together Chinese history and mythology in a powerfully told story. Tip: read Boxers first.

Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier, 2016, MS

Written by the author of the graphic novelization of The Babysitter’s Club and the popular GNs Smile and Sisters, Ghosts is about a family moving to the coast of Northern California to help with the younger daughter’s cystic fibrosis, and the subsequent adventures she and big sister, Cat, have exploring an abandoned boardwalk arcade and the local mission, full of ancestral ghosts. But as dia de los muertos approaches, Cat must decide how best to protect her sister while granting her biggest wish. If you’re a fan of the animated movie Coco, you’ll enjoy this graphic novel, too.

Paper Girls, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson, and Jared K. Fletcher, 2016, YA

Paper Girls follows four 12-year old girls as they begin their daily paper route in the dark hours before dawn the day after Halloween, 1988. What they think are some creeps still causing mischief turns out to be something right out of a science fiction movie. There are some gritty parts in this four-volume series, but perfect for fans of 80s nostalgia. The graphics in this fast-paced novel are well-drawn with blasts of color against a range of blues, purples and greys.

Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani, 2017, MS

Sixteen-year old Priyanka, or Pri as she prefers to be called, is a first-generation Indian American dealing with the typical high-school drama as well as the push and pull of living between two cultures. After winning $500 in a comic book writing contest, Pri finally convinces her single mother to let her visit her mausi-Meena (auntie) in India. There’s a bit of magical realism here in the form of a beautifully woven pashmina, shown in lush full-color sequences while the rest of the clean graphics are in grey tones. A Junior Library Guild Selection of 2017, as well as other awards and honors, Pashmina is an engaging and heartwarming debut novel.

Below are titles of other MS or YA graphic novels to add to your reading list:

Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova, 2015, MS

Breaking Up by Aimee Friedman and Christine Norrie, 2007, YA

Fish Girl by Donna Jo Napoli and  David Wiesner

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang, 2014, YA

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson, 2015, YA

The Professor’s Daughter by Joan Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert, 1997, YA

Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale and Nathan Hale, 2008, MS

Real Friends by Shannon Hale and Leuyen Pham, 2017, MS

The Sandman (multi-volume series) by Neil Gaiman and illustrators: Karen Berger, Mark Buckingham, Duncan Eagleson, Dick Giordano, Bob Kahan, Lovern Kindzierski, Todd Klein, Alisa Kwitney, Vince Locke, Dan McKean, Shawn McManus, Shelly Roeberg, P. Craig Russell, Bryan Talbot, Jill Thompson, Sherilyn van Valkenburgh, Danny Vozzo, John Watkiss, Kent Williams, Stan Woch, and Gene Wolfe, 1993, YA

Snow White by Matt Phelan, 2016, MS

This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, 2014, YA

by Gwen Gatto, Library Assistant at Belmont Hills Library

Not Just for Kids Anymore – MS and YA Graphic Novels for Adults!