Graphic Novel Recommendations
To celebrate both Free Comic Book Day and our virtual Fan Fest event on Saturday, August 14, we have created a special reading challenge on Beanstack. Read five graphic novels between August 14-31 and you will be entered in a drawing for some great prizes. Visit olpl.beanstack.org to register!
Here are some recommendations to help you get started on your graphic novel reading journey:
They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
Long before his Star Trek days, George Takei was a young boy imprisoned in American concentration camps during World War II. This is the graphic memoir of Takei’s experience growing up in a time of war and legalized racism, and how it shaped the person he would become.
Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell
It’s Deja and Josiah’s last season working at the pumpkin patch together, and Deja decides it’s time to go out with a bang. Follow them through the patch as they try all of the foods and take in the sights. And, most importantly, Josiah can finally talk to the girl he’s had a crush on all this time.
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
In this candid and intimate autobiography of self-identity, Maia details the struggles of coming out, body image, sexuality, and more. Extremely honest and open, Gender Queer is a truly helpful guide to achieve greater understanding of gender and identity.
March by John Lewis
Told from the perspective of Congressman John Lewis, who was a leader in the American Civil Rights Movement. This award-winning trilogy covers Lewis’ role in the movement, and provides powerful insight into the courageous battles that he fought to end segregation.
Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV
Children in Archer’s Peak are going missing, and the only ones who return do with so horrifying stories of creatures in the shadows. Only one person is right for the job of saving the children – a stranger named Erica Slaughter, who just so happens to kill monsters.
Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan
Erin, Mackenzie, KJ and Tiffany are 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls in the fictional town of Stony Stream, Ohio. One morning while delivering papers, the girls become entangled in conflict when a mysterious force from the future invades the suburb.
Locke & Key by Joe Hill
At the home of Keyhouse in Lovecraft, Massachusetts, all is not what it seems. When the Locke children return after their father’s murder, their mother and two older kids grapple with their grief, while the youngest makes a new friend and finds a key to doors that shouldn’t be unlocked.
Maus by Art Spiegelman
Spiegelman interviews his father, Vladek, who was a Polish Jew and a Holocaust survivor in this gripping graphic novel series. He depicts his father’s experiences from the time leading up to World War II to his parents’ liberation from the Nazi concentration camps.
