The award-winning graphic memoir Real Friends came out last spring from First Second. Shannon Hale tells a heart-wrenching story of seeking popularity in grade school, illustrated by LeUyen Pham. It’s about the hard work of figuring out what friendship means and the loneliness of feeling on the outs. Now the sequel, Best Friends, has been […]
Alice: From Dream to Dream By Giulio Macaione, English adaptation by Jackie Ball Boom! Studios, $14.99 Recommended for teens and up Macaione makes his US comic debut in this beautifully illustrated graphic novel about forced empathy, having to learn more about others whether we want to or not. That’s a skill that needs more emphasis […]
Science Comics: The Brain: The Ultimate Thinking Machine Written by Tory Woollcott, Illustrated by Alex Graudins First Second, $12.99 (paperback), $19.99 (hardcover) Ages 9-13 The Science Comics line is a wonderful marker for quality educational comics, and who better to teach about The Brain than a mad scientist? Fahama is helping her crazily determined younger […]
Aquicorn Cove by Katie O’Neill Oni Press, $12.99 Ages 7-11 The author of The Tea Dragon Society returns with a graphic novel bound to satisfy her audience. As in her previous book, Aquicorn Cove has the same beautifully colored images, the same confident, sometimes wordless storytelling, similar relationships with unusual creatures, and a corresponding message […]
When their town is overrun by pirates, Daggum Criminy and his family find themselves cast adrift, literally, floating across the ocean before landing in a series of strange lands. That’s the idea behind Criminy, the new graphic novel by writer Ryan Ferrier, whose credits include the Regular Show and Over the Garden Wall comics, and […]
One of the questions that teachers and librarians often ask for at panels is graphic novels with Latinx characters. The list is short, but BOOM! Studios will add to it next April with the middle-grade graphic novel Hotel Dare, by writer Terry Blas (Dead Weight) and artist Claudia Aguirre (Kim & Kim), which they will […]
Sheets by Brenna Thummler Lion Forge, $12.99 Ages 9-12 Marjorie is trying to keep the family business, a laundromat, together. Her mother passed away, and Dad has mostly checked out. She has to cope with self-centered customers and a pushy, smarmy neighborhood businessman. Then the ghosts appear. The spirits all look like the classic children’s […]
“Kids, remember: If you want tacos in your story, then YOU make sure there are tacos in your story!” That’s the empowering message of This Is a Taco by Josh Shipley and Andrew Cangelose. In the hybrid comic/picture book, a squirrel takes exception to the narration and rewrites his own story so it has more tacos […]
Series are always tricky because they don’t stand alone. Readers will want to catch up on the earlier volumes of Secret Coders before starting volume 5. Even though I had read all the earlier volumes, the gap in time had me pulling at my memory—although this morning I told a student I was wondering if […]
Summer vacation. I spent years in summer camp… most of them were spent crying and counting down the days until it was time to go home. The only year of summer camp that I really enjoyed was the year I was a “pioneer.” The program was centered on the rustic outdoor experience; hiking, canoeing, and […]
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