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Middle-Grades Graphic Novels


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DS can read at a middle-grades level, but has convergence insufficiency. We are working on the CI, which has been improving steadily, but near lines of small font are still tiring for him. He’ll read a chapter or so at a time, and enjoys the stories, but then he’s done. He’s bored with beginning readers / early chapter books (Henry & Mudge, Mr. Putter & Tabby, etc).

Recently he has discovered graphic novels and really latched onto them because the story lines are more interesting without giving him a headache. He liked the Narwhal & Jelly series, but read all the books in a single day. Loved Catstronauts, which he’s read repeatedly, and is now making his way through Binky the Space Cat. I have Bird & Squirrel and The Misadventures of Salem Hyde on our list to try next.

In general he loves cats, wordplay, magic, wacky humor (Dahl, Gaiman, Carrol), narrative science / history (Magic School Bus, Magic Treehouse, Andrew Lost). He’s just shy of 7, so nothing too scary or mature. What else is out there that might be a good fit?

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My boys LOVE the N-Story treehouse books by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton.  There are a bunch in the series...26-Story, 91-Story, 117-Story, etc.  They are graphic novel-ish.  Not exactly comic strip panels, but also not pages of unbroken text which a couple of my boys also really struggle with.

They really liked The Time Museum, the Lucy & Andy Neanderthal series, the Dog Man series, and the Little Prince graphic novels.

They also read all the non-fiction graphic novels they can get their hands on.  So things like Clan Apis (which I also found fascinating!), the Science Comics series, Larry Gonick's books, etc. 

 

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My kids like everything by Nathan Hale- both his "Hazardous Tales" history series, as well as his stand-alone fiction, like One Trick Pony and Rapunzel's Revenge.  

They also like the Wings of Fire graphic adaptation.  

We do A LOT of graphic novels/comics with our history studies.  They are just another way to get those hooks into their brains, on which more (boring) information can hang.  

My kids have also enjoyed graphic novels of Shakespeare's plays, as well as adaptations of the Illiad and Odyssey.  

 

Also, have you considered a kindle for your son?  I have an eye problem that means I cannot read small text.  On a kindle e-reader, you can adjust text size, margin size, and line spacing, as well as choose a preferred font.  This has reopened reading to me.  

 

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9 minutes ago, wendyroo said:

My boys LOVE the N-Story treehouse books

Oh yeah, I remember seeing those all over the bookshops when we were in Hong Kong... Never really looked at them closely, but our library has several so I’ll check them out! (Pun intended 🙃  )

He dislikes potty-humor (finds it annoying, not funny) which Pilkey is well-known for so I don’t think Dog Man would be a good fit.

I haven’t heard of the others before. The Time Museum sounds cool; he enjoys both time travel & museums! I hadn’t really considered nonfiction yet, but that’s a good idea too. He loved Human Body Theatre, which is a graphic-novel style anatomy text.

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All the boys I know that age are nigh on obsessed with Dav Pilkey's Dogman, so if he hasn't done those, that would be a start.

I'm less in touch with what's hip now than I used to be. Off the top of my head... for a kid who can decode at a pretty good level, but needs both a pared down GN text and a 7 yo appropriate story...

Babymouse series and Squish series (watch out for the Holm siblings' other team up series though... very good and very kid appropriate, but some of the themes around drug abuse in a family might be too mature for some 7 yos)
Lunch Lady
Guinea PI(g)
Zita the Spacegirl series
Giants Beware/Dragons Beware
Amulet series
Mighty Jack series
El Deafo
Hildafolk
Secret Science Alliance
Nameless City
The Marvel Oz series

That's just a few... there's a lot more out there now too.

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1 hour ago, Monica_in_Switzerland said:

My kids like everything by Nathan Hale- both his "Hazardous Tales" history series, as well as his stand-alone fiction, like One Trick Pony and Rapunzel's Revenge.  

I like the look of his fairytale re-tellings... would be fun to read the originals, then follow up with his graphic novel versions! 

I’ll look into the literary & historical texts, as well.

1 hour ago, Monica_in_Switzerland said:

Also, have you considered a kindle for your son?  I have an eye problem that means I cannot read small text.  On a kindle e-reader, you can adjust text size, margin size, and line spacing, as well as choose a preferred font.  This has reopened reading to me.  

Perhaps eventually, if it continues to be an issue for him. For now now I’d prefer to keep him in physical books. Theoretically the CI should permanently resolve & eliminate the issue. 

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1 hour ago, Farrar said:

Babymouse series and Squish series - I think he’d like Squish. Babymouse he might like. She may be a bit too princessy for him.  

Lunch Lady - This doesn’t look like it would appeal to him. He hates superheroes. 

Guinea PI(g) - I was so hoping this would be a math reference (pi). He isn’t much for mysteries...

Zita the Spacegirl series - He will love this! No question. 

Giants Beware/Dragons Beware - I think he’ll like this, too. He loves the Middle Ages & mythic creatures.

Amulet series - This might be a little scary for right now, but it does look very good! 

Mighty Jack - These look fun. He’s at a great age for fairytale re-imaginings! 

El Deafo - I had heard of this, but thought it was aimed more at middle schoolers. I know I’ve seen it in our library, so I’ll take a closer look.

Hildafolk - These look cute! I love that she’s a “scout” (so is DS).

Secret Science Alliance - Not sure on this one... I’ll have to check it out. 

Nameless City - This looks neat. I wonder if The Nameless City will remind him of being in Hong Kong... so many people, from all over the world.

Marvel’s Oz - I feel like we should probably read the original first (as a read aloud) but I’ll keep this in mind for him afterwards! 

Thanks for all of the great ideas!! 

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My son really loved the Asterix books as well as Tintin. You do have to be careful because there's a lot of racism in those books. I looked at whatever he was reading and talked to him about it, so it ended up being a learning experience in that sense.

I remember that when I was a kid I loved the Donald Duck comics from the 1930s, the ones by Carl Barks. I know, it sounds goofy, but they're great adventure stories, with bits and pieces of history thrown in -- I remember that's where I first learned about the Vikings coming to the New World, for example.

Also, I think it was Farrar who recommended a graphic novel about the history of China. My son loved it and I've been meaning to buy more in the series -- I have to dig out the title.

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10 hours ago, Shoes+Ships+SealingWax said:

I like the look of his fairytale re-tellings... would be fun to read the originals, then follow up with his graphic novel versions! 

I’ll look into the literary & historical texts, as well.

Perhaps eventually, if it continues to be an issue for him. For now now I’d prefer to keep him in physical books. Theoretically the CI should permanently resolve & eliminate the issue. 

 

Your kiddo is 7?  My suggestions might be a little too old, then.  I mis-read your title as middle school, not middle grades!  Sorry.  

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17 hours ago, Shoes+Ships+SealingWax said:

Thanks for all of the great ideas!! 

As for El Deafo... there are a bunch of these more realistic style GN's for kids. It's definitely appropriate for a wide range of ages. And as for some of the girl centric titles... my boys loved all of them. Babymouse is very pink, but she's not exactly girly. I also just think it's good for boys to read the girl titles.

If he likes mathy stuff, Gene Yang also has a younger kids series called... Coder Club? Something like that? I haven't read them, but Gene Luen Yang, so they've got to be good.

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On 1/28/2020 at 9:07 AM, Farrar said:

And as for some of the girl centric titles... my boys loved all of them. Babymouse is very pink, but she's not exactly girly. I also just think it's good for boys to read the girl titles.

DS loves many series with female leads (Sophie Mouse, Alice Liddell, Cam Jansen) - in fact, he generally prefers girls to boys both fictionally & socially / in real life. 

That said, the samples I found for Babymouse had her prancing around in a tiara & a fancy dress (he doesn’t like dress-up / costumes) or complaining frame after frame (he doesn’t like “grumpy” characters). In the same way, he adores Ramona’s accidental entropy - but Bean’s intentional trickiness (Ivy + Bean) makes him uncomfortable. He likes following Prince Lucas (Kingdom of Wrenly) & Drake (Dragon Masters) on their adventures... but hates characters who call others names (Junie B. & Horrible Henry) or make constant poop / butt / fart jokes (anything by Dav Pilkey). 

I’m confident he’ll adore Zita, & he’ll probably like Hildafolk, Amulet, & Chronicles of Claudette as well - but I doubt he would care for the type of character Babymouse seems to be if the samples I saw were representative. 

Edited by Shoes+Ships+SealingWax
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I am looking at my DS7 shelf right now:

Dory Fantasmagory series (not graphic novels, but some pictures and bigger font)

24 story treehouse

Zita the Spacegirl

Babymouse Queen of the World

Bad Guys series 

Chicken Squad series by Doreen Cronin 

Binky the Space Cat

Cleopatra in Space

Fable Comics

Klawde evil alien warlord cat

Cave boy Dave

Giants Beware

Mr Wolf’s class

I have not read any of these. They are all either graphic novels or books with pictures and white space.

 

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11 minutes ago, lovinmyboys said:

I have not read any of these. They are all either graphic novels or books with pictures and white space.

Great! Looks like a mix of some I know he enjoys, some that have been recommended upthread, & some new titles to look into. Thanks! 

ETA: Oooh, Dory Fantasmagory looks like it may be especially appealing - he adores Ramona (we’ve read the entire series more than once) & the main character / sibling dynamics seem very similar! 

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