I love graphic novels! They have become quite "the thing" nowadays. When I was a kid, there were comic books but not necessarily graphic novels. It seems there is a graphic novel adaptation for most classics (The Giver, Little Women, Wrinkle in Time, The Hobbit, etc.), so it is a great "cliffnotes" way to read a novel without reading the whole thing. I love the visual aspect of them, and I also love how I can read them fairly quickly.
Becoming RBG - I loved this! I became a fan of RBG after reading the picture book I Dissent (which I didn't realize until later that it was written by the same author as this book!). I read it to my 5th grade class, and they were moved by it as well. I still remember the time something happened from a higher-up at our school and we were all disappointed. One student piped up, "We could dissent, right?" I loved learning more about RBG's life in more detail and in an awesome graphic novel format.
Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel - I'm not sure why I never read any of the Anne books or saw any of the movies as a kid. Here I am, as an adult, trying to get caught up on the Anne fan-dom. And I start with a graphic novel because it's a quick and easy introduction. I loved the adaptation, and I mostly loved the illustrations, but I didn't care for the way the artist presented Anne's nose and eyes up close. Overall, though, well done!
Friends Forever - I loved this book so much! I read it in one day. I could relate on so many levels to Shannon's middle school experience. I like how each book in the series has a theme of sorts. I'm glad she kept a shoebox full of middle school notes passed back and forth to help her get into middle school mode again. She said in the author's note that 95% of the book was based on stories from her own life. And the illustrations were fantastic, too. Loved it!
When Stars are Scattered - I mentioned this over on another post as one of my favorite audiobooks from this year, but it's also excellent as a graphic novel. I read it by myself and with the boys. It's hard to believe the story is true.
Cold War Correspondent - Oh, how I love these hazardous tales! I think I've read the whole series, and I was excited to find that another one had come out. I knew absolutely ZERO about the Korean War and what led to it. I know a lot more about the "major wars" - Revolutionary, Civil, WWI, and WWII, so this was quite the eye-opener. I liked that it was told from Higgins' perspective as a female war correspondent (I also knew ZERO about the work of war correspondents). I'm not sure what my 5th grade son would think -- there are a lot of details and it's kind of hard to keep everything straight. I appreciated the brief synopsis at the end about how nobody won the war and that the arbitrary 38th parallel is still dividing into two nations. Also, it matters that we read multiple perspectives -- like from the civilians' and soldiers' point of view. I recommend for teens AND adults!
Honorable Mention:
Animorphs #1 and #2 - Carter and I love the Animorphs series (which are out-of-print and we have to buy at used bookstores), and we were thrilled to see that it's slowly being adapted into graphic novels. We read the first two that are out.
Allergic: A Graphic Novel - I'm a sucker for this type of book and really enjoyed it.
Sunny Makes a Splash - I've enjoyed this series and was happy to find another one was out. Another great one!
Cat Kid Comic Club - I really enjoyed this one. I read most of the early Dog Man books (I like those better than the Captain Underpants series by the same author) but hadn't read this one (after having it for almost a year). My 10-year-old son had brought it to me to read during story time (in which I usually read picture books). I started it that night and finished it the next morning as a read aloud. I liked all the different types of comics and themes. I also really enjoyed the second one in the series.
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