YA Graphic Novel Reccomendations

ShaggyMarco

ShaggyMarco

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A friend of mine is in Grad School for Library Science/School Media. For one of her classes, she is required to read a variety of genres of YA (Young Adult) literature. One of the categories she must find books from is Graphic Novels.

Here's the catch: She must read 2-3 Young Adult (think Middle/High School age; 11-18 years old) graphic novels that have been written/published in 2005 OR LATER.

Everything I've thought of is either too old, too graphic for middle/high school, or both.

I'd like to compile a list for her to choose from, possibly with a brief description and a reccomnedation of age-appropriateness.

So, best (YA-Appropriate) Graphic Novels of the last 3 years...GO!
 
ShaggyMarco said:
A friend of mine is in Grad School for Library Science/School Media. For one of her classes, she is required to read a variety of genres of YA (Young Adult) literature. One of the categories she must find books from is Graphic Novels.

Here's the catch: She must read 2-3 Young Adult (think Middle/High School age; 11-18 years old) graphic novels that have been written/published in 2005 OR LATER.

Everything I've thought of is either too old, too graphic for middle/high school, or both.

I'd like to compile a list for her to choose from, possibly with a brief description and a reccomnedation of age-appropriateness.

So, best (YA-Appropriate) Graphic Novels of the last 3 years...GO!
Click to expand...

Robert Kirkman would tell you that none exist.
 
E said:
Robert Kirkman would tell you that none exist.
Click to expand...

Well, that's a shame.

So far I've found Persepolis 2 and Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi (probably mostly upper high-school age) and Pride of Baghdad (Vaughn, duh), which is intense, but has been approved in many library circle for grades 9+.

That just seemed like a very small list.
 
The Ultimates 2: Grand Theft America graphic novel was published in 2007 (even if it took about 2 years for the issues to come out..)
 
Pride of Baghdad is perfect and highly recommended.

Runaways? Or is that too serialized?
 
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ShaggyMarco said:
Well, that's a shame.

So far I've found Persepolis 2 and Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi (probably mostly upper high-school age) and Pride of Baghdad (Vaughn, duh), which is intense, but has been approved in many library circle for grades 9+.

That just seemed like a very small list.
Click to expand...

Pride of Baghdad is a good one.

Runaways might be a decent choice.
 
Jeff Smith's Bone is a seriously awesome series, but unfortunately was published before 2005. :( However, his Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil, was published in 2007.

The Minx Line from DC is aimed at girls, and includes several stand-alone volumes:
Kimmie666, by Aaron Alexovich; Confessions of a Blabbermouth, by Mike and Louise Carey; Clubbing, by Andi Watson; The PLAIN Janes, by Cecil Castellucci; Re-Gifters, by Mike Carey; and Good as Lily, by Derek Kirk Kim. Most of them have 2007 publication dates. I've read all of them except Confessions and Clubbing, and found each to be very different, but all quite good. Most of them would qualify as general fiction, although Kimmie666 might fall into the science fiction/future fiction genre.

I'm not sure if Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeff Kinney qualifies as a graphic novel or just as a heavily illustrated regular novel, but your colleague might want to look it over.

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Peterson.

There is a list of suggested graphic novels for various grades here. This may be more information than your colleague wants, however. There is also a blog called The Graphic Classroom that reviews graphic novels for various ages.

If she doesn't mind superhero comics with a decidedly Christian theme, she might want to look at the "Hand of Morning Star" series from Brett Burner, beginning with Advent. If you follow this link, it will list the rest of the series titles.

Non-superhero Christian GN: the Spirit Warriors series, by Stephen Baldwin, is set in the near future and deals with a group of teens trying to free their city from an evil force.

Kampung Boy, by Lat. Story of a Muslim boy growing up in Malaysia in the 1950s.

The Rabbi's Cat, by Joann Sfar. I would place this at the "high school" end of the spectrum for some profanity and sexual discussions.

American Born Chinese, by Gene Leun Yang.

Boneyard, by Richard Moore. A humorous take on the horror genre.

At the moment, I am on the road on vacation and don't have access to my library's YA GN collection. If you need more suggestions and don't mind waiting until next week, I can probably field some more.
 
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