Story Times: Ages 7-12 If your grade-schooler has devoured all the Dog Man and Wimpy Kid books, everything by Raina Telgemeier and Jeff Smith’s “Bone,” hand them one of these standouts. Roar! Crash! Those noises you heard when Jerry Craft’s graphic novel “New Kid” won the 2020 Newbery Medal were the approval of hordes of happy readers, young and old.
“New Kid” — the story of Jordan Banks, an African-American boy who’s one of few students of color at a private school — is terrific. Our reviewer, Victoria Jamieson, called it “a gift to readers who love the genre. ” The crashing sound? That was yet another barrier tumbling down in children’s publishing.
For years, graphic novels were not considered “real” books. Many parents and educators still hold to this outdated notion. Perhaps it’s because graphic novels are cousins of that unfairly maligned bugaboo of mid-20th-century parents and librarians — comic books. Yet there is definitive research showing that reading books that combine images and text is as cognitively challenging as text-only reading.
Every child’s brain is wired differently, and some kids are more “visual readers,” who struggle with large chunks of text but can more easily access information and storytelling through a balance of words and illustration. Hurray, then, for the Caldecott Committee, who realized it was time to consider graphic novels as literature, pure and simple. But there is an actual problem with kids’ graphic novels: There are not enough of them. That’s because the process is laborious — it takes a long time to map out and ink a 200-page book, then longer to add color — and the appetite for graphic books is large and ever-growing.
Many avid readers between the ages of 7 and 12 have already gone through the Captain Underpants, Dog Man and Wimpy Kid books, everything by Raina Telgemeier, Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham’s “Real Friends” and “Best Friends,” the Dork Diaries and the 13-Story Treehouse books. They’ve devoured “Roller Girl” by Victoria Jamieson and “El Deafo” by Cece Bell. If they like fantasy, they’ve finished Jeff Smith’s classic “Bone” and Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet series, as well as Max Brallier’s Last Kids on Earth books. What’s next for these lucky kids?
Group Text “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” will spark lively conversation among people who have run out of things to say. Welcome to Group Text, a mo...
My picks below are lesser known gems that deserve more attention — especially now. This one is great for readers on the younger end of the 7-10 age range, or even younger if they’re reading on their own. In five colorful short tales we meet Rhino-B, a bold rhinoceros beetle, and his calmer buddy, Stag-B, a stag beetle. The adventurous and funny Bug Boys find a treasure map, celebrate their Coming-of-Age Festival, have a big fight but then make up.
They are called upon to negotiate a peace deal between Bees and Termites. Sure, they’re bugs and they live in a cool buggy world, but they are also a great example of boys who value — and are good at — friendship. This is a standalone book, but I hope it will be a series. These stylish books — there are three so far — are called “Giants Beware!
,” “Monsters Beware! ” and “Dragons Beware! ,” and they are just the thing for kids who like fractured fairy tales. Our heroine is Claudette, a tiny, feisty, redheaded slayer.
Her sidekicks are Marie, an aspiring princess, and Gaston, Claudette’s fearful little brother. They are out to escape from their own boring world and right some wrongs, including a dragon who has bitten off Claudette’s dad’s legs. Yep, some of what they get up to is not for the squeamish, and all the more absorbing for certain little readers. This Belgian import has a simple story and cleanly drawn style, yet delivers an utterly mysterious fascination, great for kids on the older end of the 7-12 range.
In the first book, “Vanisher's Island,” we meet the twins Stig and Tilde, who are taking off in a motorboat. According to local tradition, when children turn 14, they leave to spend a month — in the old days, it was a full year — with other kids on a local island, practicing survival skills. But their boat is caught in a storm, and they wash up on an island that seems empty. Or is it?
There is a second volume, “Leader of the Pack,” and a third, “The Loser Squad,” that will be published in July 2020. This stunning book about friendship, trust and being open to new possibilities opens at a nameless town’s autumn equinox festival. According to legend, the paper lanterns launched into the river that night keep going all the way out to the Milky Way, where they become stars.
“A boy named Ben makes a pact with his friends to follow the lanterns and find out the truth.”
A social outcast named Nathaniel tags along — and it soon turns out that he and Ben are the only ones who keep the pact. Soon, the story becomes magical. There is a talking bear, dressed in a coat and scarf, and even more wonder ahead of them. Every villain needs a sidekick.
Ballister Blackheart, a former good knight who lost his arm in an accident and went bad, hires the enthusiastic but inexperienced Nimona, a shape-shifting girl who really wants to help. But they must contend with Ballister’s nemesis, Ambrosius Goldenloin, now with the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics, not to mention his boss, a woman known only as the Director. The twists and turns of this lovely, moody superhero story (anti-superhero story? ) will have readers shaking their heads to the final page.
O’Connor, a self-proclaimed Greek mythology obsessive, has done something wonderful: He’s turned the tales of those adventuresome, rascally, feuding, power-mad Greek gods into a nifty set of gorgeously drawn, well-researched graphic novels that kids go nuts for. And why not? Each sleek, slim volume has action, drama, and a story involving the no-holds-barred pursuit of high ideals and personal destiny. The young readers I know like to read them all and figure out which is their favorite god.
To date the series includes Zeus, Athena, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Aries, Apollo, Hermes and Hephaistos. This action-packed duology begins in New York City in 1860. Twins named Alex and Cleo, out of options after the disappearance of their father, join a notorious gang and are caught by the police in a bumbled heist. They bargain and are given tickets to New Orleans in exchange for naming the gang.
But Alex is soon kidnapped and put to work on a ship headed for San Francisco. Cleo stows away on another ship, planning to make her own way to San Francisco. Meanwhile: pirates! A pirate gang is on their trail.
History comes alive in these books. This children’s literature classic, first published in 1958, is a time-travel mystery about a boy who, stuck spending the summer with his aunt and uncle, discovers a grandfather clock that chimes 13 each night — transporting him back in time to an old garden, where he meets a delightful girl named Hatty and, eventually, learns some secrets about his family. The one-named French illustrator Edith has turned a great story into a truly sublime graphic novel with her beautiful, haunting illustrations and judicious translation of text into imagery. Set in the Pacific Northwest, with lots of tall, looming trees, this story is a ton of fun.
We meet an average sixth grader named AJ, who is desperate to get his supercool crush, Nia, to notice him. Nia is obsessed with vampire fiction, so AJ pretends to be a vampire, with Halloween fangs and fake blood. But — oh no! Nia is actually a vampire slayer, and AJ is soon on the run.
Hilda is a fearless little blue-haired heroine who lives in a mysterious, magical world that seems vaguely Northern European, but also has trolls, giants and other dangerous creatures hiding everywhere. All of these gorgeously drawn books — “Hilda and the Troll,” “Hilda and the Midnight Giant,” “Hilda and the Bird Parade,” “Hilda and the Black Hound” and “Hilda and the Stone Forest” — see Hilda facing a predicament with both brains and heart. Her greatest talent may be her ability to make the most unlikely friends. Note that there is a Netflix series based on Hilda, and the publisher has produced a bunch of books based on episodes in the series that are illustrated, but are not graphic novels.
But you want to get your hands on these original five! These terrific, realistic graphic novels are set in the 1970s, when “parenting” as a verb had not yet been invented and kids roamed the streets and made their own fun. Young readers of today find that freewheeling period, when many of their parents grew up, fascinating! In the first book of this series, “Sunny Side Up,” 10-year-old Sunny Lewin travels alone by airplane to Florida for an extended stay with her grandfather at his retirement community.
In flashbacks we learn that back at home in Pennsylvania, her brother, Dale, has gone from being a fun-loving rule breaker to a teenager with a drug problem. But Sunny has her own growing up to do, which is the real focus of these delightful books. The difficult themes are handled sensitively and smartly. Gramps is a hoot, and Sunny is a lovable, plucky character whose adventures continue in “Swing It, Sunny” and “Sunny Rolls the Dice.
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