Graphic novels | Page 4 of 8

Alterations, a graphic novel channeling middle school in all the right ways

Heartfelt is a dicey adjective to describe something because it could easily be misconstrued as soft, boring or too emotional; all of which are the death knell for graphic novels that are trying to be interesting to middle school audiences. In this case heartfelt, humorous, clever familial, and more could also be appropriate to describe Alterations. Change is hard. Middle school is harder. That’s the tagline for Alterations, a graphic novel written and illustrated by Ray Xu. The conflict in Alterations is one that any middle school student, or even those upper-elementary ages will latch onto.

Alterations is a graphic novel that humorously shows middle school and how its inhabitants view it and the world around them.

Not a double helix, but a great mglit graphic novel

A Sky of Paper Stars, an imaginative graphic novel on grieving and death

Kids of a certain age think that everything revolves around them. Heck, some adults haven’t realized it yet and still think that everything revolves around them. They’re the only one who has experienced whatever circumstance they’re wrestling with and nobody is capable of understanding or relating to their issues. I was that way as a kid and I see children in classrooms every day who are wrangling with those same emotions. A Sky of Paper Stars by Susie Yi is a graphic novel that tackles all of that, with a side order of cultural differences, maybe a yokai and a death in the family. It blends all of those things together, with an added sense of wonder to create a book that gives you the feels and makes you think.

A Sky of Paper Stars is a graphic novel on death and grieving that manages to not be too heavy, concentrating on the support and love, but acknowledging the loss.

A graphic novel with heart and feels

Enlightened is an affable graphic novel on the first half of Buddha’s life

When I was a teenager I saw The Last Temptation of Christ. I was no budding theologian; it was the fact that the movie was being picketed that piqued my attention. Enlightened is not the graphic novel, Buddhist version of that experience. This is the lightly fictionalized story about the early years of Siddhartha, the human who would later be known as Gautama Buddha.

Enlightened is a graphic novel that’s far from sufferable on Siddhartha, the young prince who became Buddha, with stark colors and vivid illustrations.

The path is strong with this book

Investigators: All Tide Up, the seventh in the series shows no signs of age

As an adult, I know better than to laugh at repeated uses of puns. It’s the low end of the bad-dad joke pool. I know that some would say that’s an impossibility, but there’s a distinct difference between puns and dad jokes, plus billiards is a highly underappreciated sport. Investigators is a go-to series of all-age graphic novels and the seventh entry in it is All Tide Up. This series of graphic novels breaks the fourth wall, is loaded to the brim with puns, has colors that immediately give it a ‘classic’ vibe, and still maintains one of the highest laugh-to-page ratios that readers will encounter.

Investigators: All Tide Up is the seventh entry into this all-age-graphic novel series that continues to deliver laughs and puns aplenty.

Here be puns, and lots of humor to be had for ages 8 and up

Eerie Tales from the School of Screams, a macabre all-age graphic novel

School-age children want to be scared. Nay, school-age children need to experience scary, spooky, well-told stories that shake their skin. They don’t need to be able to quote dialogue from some Korean horror film or break down their favorite Saw entry, but they need to see some darkness, even if it’s splattered with music, humor or thought. Eerie Tales from the School of Screams is a graphic novel that oozes with things that go bump in the night. Its thick presence, patient pacing, and varied short stories elicit a variety and genuine dread, with just a grimace of awareness that makes this graphic novel resonate with those aged eight and up.

Eerie Tales from the School of Screams is an all-age graphic novel that doubles as all-age horror. It’s scary, whilst maintaining humor, heart and creativity.

All-age graphic novel and all-age horror meet in a bar….

All Talk, a graphic novel on gang culture and a ‘good kid’ who dies young

All Talk is a mature graphic novel that you wish didn’t have to exist. It’s a graphic novel that’s laden with violence, occasional foul language and drug use that deftly illustrates the unspoken pressures that weigh down teens in urban areas that are prone to gangs. The story, in and of itself, is fascinating and a relatively simple one, albeit complex for those beings who are in its proximity. It’s the art in All Talk that takes this premise and magnifies it to something that makes readers think more about the story, even if they’re worlds away from where it might actually happen.

All Talk is a graphic novel for high school ages that unflinchingly looks at gangs, acting tough and the results that follow.

A mature graphic novel that serves as a modern allegory on gang culture

Looking Up is an early chapter book laugh fest, with lots of heart

The laugh-per-page ratio to a Stephan Pastis book is incredibly high. His collections of Pearls Before Swine and the Trubble Town graphic novel series are hilarious, observational, intelligent and some of the best bang for the buck in a book that you can invest in. I say “invest in” because every Pastis book that we’ve received or purchased has never left our house and sticks like glue in our forever library. We had heard about the Timmy Failure book series but hadn’t read any of them. They are less cartoon-illustrated books and more in line with a chapter book for upper elementary through middle school. Looking Up is a book that falls into that category. It also produces multiple laughs per page, gets you thinking, grinning, trying to figure out some jokes, and in the end, tugs at the heartstrings more than you expect.

Looking Up has the absurd humor and fun that Stephan Pastis is known for, but combines more heart and feels than you’re expecting.

Another Pastis piece of perfection, but with more heart than you’re expecting

Barb and the Battle for Bailiwick nails the all-age graphic novel tone

The audience, it’s all about the audience and finding to whom it’s speaking. I’m teaching an AP Language class now and that’s a key trait that we’re discussing about certain texts. In Barb and the Battle for Bailiwick the audience for this graphic novel entry is crystal clear. If you’re eight-years-old and like to read, this is your jam. If you’re eight years old or older and a reluctant reader, because reading isn’t cool and you’re parents are content to let your brain turn to Minecraft mush, then this is your jam. If you’re looking for an action-packed all-age graphic novel that screams with enthusiasm, runs with energy, and has humor for days, then this is your jam.

Barb and the Battle for Bailiwick, the third book in this all-age graphic novel series, is the action and humor antidote for (reluctant) readers to avoid a bad time.

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