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Cindy: Well, we can’t be at New York Comic Con this weekend, but we can blog about a graphic novel to join the party from afar. Anya’s Ghost (First Second 2011) is perfectly executed and is perfect for the pre-Halloween season although it will be enjoyed year-round. Anya has self image problems and struggles to [...]

Lynn: Inquiring minds want to know!  What happens when a superhero sneezes?  If you guessed that it wouldn’t be pretty, you guessed right.  Captain Amazing is allergic to peanuts and when his symptoms are triggered by a stray groundnut it is clear he needs an assistant.  His lonely pets agree – he’s never home with [...]

Lynn: Creators of the fabulous Babymouse series, Jennifer and Matt Holm, debut a new graphic novel series that will have readers everywhere clapping their pseudopods in glee.  Squish:  Super Amoeba (Random 2011) puts the microscopic world under the lens.  Who would have thought it?  Single cell critters go to school, eat tacos, get detention and [...]

Cindy: Wow. Lynn saw Return of the Dapper Men (Archaia 2010) on Booklist’s Top Ten Graphic Novels for Youth: 2011 list and tracked it down. We had missed seeing this when it published in November. This is an intriguing story, with philosophical themes to explore (or not) and exquisite artwork…all of which will prompt many rereadings. In [...]

Lynn: Our focus group are total graphic novel fans.  Thank you publishers for giving us more and more wonderful graphic novels for younger readers!  Zita the Spacegirl (First Second 2010) was a huge hit with the boys and it took me a while to get it away from them to read myself.  (Cindy was a [...]

Cindy: I stumbled upon this adult graphic novel while on a recent buying spree to boost the profit margin at my local independent bookseller. What a find. The Night Bookmobile (Abrams 2010) is a first person story about a young woman who is out for a very late night walk when she sees an big [...]

Lynn: Hayes, winner of the 2010 Geisel award for Benny and Penny in the Big No-No, brings Benny and Penny back for their third adventure in Benny and Penny in the Toy Breaker (Raw Jr. 2010). As the enticing cover proclaims their cousin Bo, the dreaded toy breaker, is also back. The furry siblings hide [...]

Cindy: Here’s a graphic novel memoir that teenage girls can really sink their teeth into. Smile (Scholastic, 2010) is the story of the author’s teen experience with extended dental care. Raina’s initial orthodontic work is interrupted when she trips while running and loses one tooth and smashes the other up into her gum. The ensuing [...]

Cindy: Thaddeus K. Fong is NOT amused to have a new baby sister. “My mother’s womb is a Trojan horse, I tell you.” Like many older siblings, he is resentful of the attention given to the slobbering baby whose only vocabulary is “ga.” When his math teacher explains prime numbers to Thaddeus’s advanced third grade [...]

Lynn: We first met Rapunzel and Jack as they joined forces to clean up the mess at Gothel’s Reach in Rapunzel’s Revenge (Bloomsbury 2008). The main focus shifts to Jack in this second volume, Calamity Jack (Bloomsbury, 2010), and he wants to impress Rapunzel and show his mother that he is more than a scheming [...]