Book picks similar to
Kickoff Blitz by Blake Hoena


graphic-novels
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The Lost Hero: The Graphic Novel


Robert Venditti - 2014
    He doesn't remember anything before waking up on a school bus holding hands with a girl. Apparently she's his girlfriend Piper, his best friend is a kid named Leo, and they're all students in the Wilderness School, a boarding school for "bad kids." What he did to end up here, Jason has no idea--except that everything seems very wrong.Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, and her vivid nightmares reveal that he's in terrible danger. Now her boyfriend doesn't recognize her, and when a freak storm and strange creatures attack during a school field trip, she, Jason, and Leo are whisked away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood. What is going on?Leo has a way with tools. His new cabin at Camp Half-Blood is filled with them. Seriously, the place beats Wilderness School hands down, with its weapons training, monsters, and fine-looking girls. What's troubling is the curse everyone keeps talking about, and that a camper's gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist they are all--including Leo--related to a god.

Richard Matheson's Hell House


Simon Fraser - 2008
    To help Deutsch forestall his death and to learn the secrets of life after death, a team of experts must survive a night in Belasco House, a place known amongst the local townsfolk as "Hell House." The notorious Belasco House starts to exert its dark influence on the group of scientists and spiritualists as they unearth the perverse and wretched secrets from within its walls. Hell House has let them in... but will it ever let them leave?

Kare Kano -- Vols 1-3 Collection


Masami Tsuda - 2008
    She's the number-one student at her school...or at least she was until she was shown up by the new boy, Soichiro Arima. He one-ups her in every department, and the worst thing about it is that he's sincere! With her ego in jeopardy, Yukino will do whatever it takes to regain the spotlight, but falling in love was never part of the plan.

Shirley & Jamila Save Their Summer


Gillian Goerz - 2020
    Sure, Shirley's a little strange, but both girls need a new plan for the summer, and they might as well become friends.Then this kid Oliver shows up begging for Shirley's help. His pet gecko has disappeared, and he's sure it was stolen! That's when Jamila discovers Shirley's secret: She's the neighborhood's best kid detective, and she's on the case. When Jamila discovers she's got some detective skills of her own, a crime-solving partnership is born.The mystery of the missing gecko turns Shirley and Jamila's summer upside down. And when their partnership hits a rough patch, they have to work together to solve the greatest mystery of all: What it means to be a friend.

Deadpool: All in the Family


James Asmus - 2011
    CHILL as Lady Deadpool and Headpool try to find the root cause of their majorly abusive frenemieship. Then THRILL as Kidpool and Dogpool embark on a 100-ton mechanized joy ride and and uhm...GET ILL as Dogpool makes a brand-new archenemy. Then it's 'Two Mutants and a Baby' in the untold story of how Cable escaped from Alaska with Hope. Wait -- You don't think Cable did that alone, did you? PLUS: Deadpool struggles to find the perfect way to honor his pal Cable.

Stuntboy, in the Meantime


Jason Reynolds - 2021
    And safe. Super safe. And he does this all in secret. No one in his civilian life knows he’s actually…Stuntboy! But his regular Portico identity is pretty cool, too. He lives in the biggest house on the block, maybe in the whole city, which basically makes it a castle. His mom calls where they live an apartment building. But a building with fifty doors just in the hallways is definitely a castle. And behind those fifty doors live a bunch of different people who Stuntboy saves all the time. In fact, he’s the only reason the cat, New Name Every Day, has nine lives. All this is swell except for Portico’s other secret, his not-so-super secret. His parents are fighting all the time. They’re trying to hide it by repeatedly telling Portico to go check on a neighbor “in the meantime.” But Portico knows “meantime” means his parents are heading into the Mean Time which means they’re about to get into it, and well, Portico’s superhero responsibility is to save them, too—as soon as he figures out how. Only, all these secrets give Portico the worry wiggles, the frets, which his mom calls anxiety. Plus, like all superheroes, Portico has an arch-nemesis who is determined to prove that there is nothing super about Portico at all.

Striking Out


Will Weaver - 1900
    Never been to a movie. Never played baseball with a real team. Never got over feeling guilty for the loss of his brother. But change is in the air. Billy discovers he has a natural talent for baseball, especially as a pitcher. Maybe, just maybe, there's more in store for him than life on the farm. But can Billy convince his father of that? Or is he destined to spend the rest of his life pitching nothing but hay?Teenager Billy Baggs is desperately needed on his family's struggling dairy farm, but he's also an extraordinarily gifted natural baseball player. How he struggles to reconcile his father's desire to keep him on the farm with his coach's interest in getting him on the field is at the heart of this ‘meaty story.… The complex characters grow and change in profoundly real ways.''K. ‘[With] flashes of humor, a wealth of lovingly recounted details evokes the difficult daily life on a small dairy farm.''Publishers Weekly. 1994 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)1994 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)1993 "Pick of the Lists" (ABA)

Jupiter's Legacy #1


Mark Millar
    The world's greatest heroes have grown old and their legacy is a poisonous one to the children who will never live up to their remarkable parents. Unmissable.

Chiggers


Hope Larson - 2008
    Her friend Rose is a cabin assistant, her friend Beth is pierced, and now the only person who doesn't seem too cool for Abby is Shasta, the new girl. Shasta: 1. who is one-eighth Cherokee.2. who was struck by lightning.3. whose Internet boyfriend is a senior in high school.4. who can't do any activities because of various questionable ailments.5. who is totally annoying to everyone but Abby.Can Abby be friends with a girl who all her other friends can't stand? Especially when Shasta has secrets that she isn't even telling Abby?Brilliantly plotted by Eisner Award winner Hope Larson, this is the story of one summer that will most definitely be different from the rest.

The Cardboard Kingdom


Chad SellMichael Cole - 2018
    This is the summer when sixteen kids encounter knights and rogues, robots and monsters—and their own inner demons—on one last quest before school starts again.In the Cardboard Kingdom, you can be anything you want to be—imagine that!

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #1


Amy Reeder - 2015
    Fearful of the monstrous Inhuman genes inside her, life is turned upside down when a savage, red-scaled tyrant is teleported from prehistoric past to a far-flung future we call today. The pair is many things, and together the most amazing Marvel Team-Up. Marvel presents...Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur!

Sweetness and Lightning, Vol. 1


Gido Amagakure - 2013
    He's pretty bad at cooking and doesn't have a huge appetite to begin with, but chance brings his little family and one of his students, Kotori Iida, together for homemade adventures. With those three cooks in the kitchen, it's no wonder this dinner table drama is so delicious.

White Pumpkin Seed


Annie Wang - 2014
    The story follows her journey from 1978 to '89. She experiences a childhood surrounded by love, death, poverty, and beautiful nature. Vanessa discovers music to express her joy and grief. She puts her soul into the music notes melting her listeners’ hearts. Music brings her into the larger world and on a journey to a surprise discovery. Discover the Taiwanese culture in this heart touching and uplifting story.

Living with Viola


Rosena Fung - 2021
    Viola is Livy's anxiety brought to life, a shadowy twin that only Livy can see or hear. Livy tries to push back against Viola's relentless judgment, but nothing seems to work until she strikes up new friendships at school. Livy hopes that Viola's days are numbered. But when tensions arise both at home and at school, Viola rears her head stronger than ever. Only when Livy learns how to ask for help and face her anxiety does she finally figure out living with Viola.Rosena Fung draws on her own early experiences with anxiety and the pressures of growing up as the child of Chinese immigrant parents to craft a personal story.

Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast


Llexi Leon - 2018
    "When dark forces conspire to corrupt the fabric of reality, Eddie's immortal soul is shattered and strewn across the cosmos - his unbound essence corrupting countless worlds! Now, a weakened, primal Eddie must journey across space and time to battle the twisted legions of The Beast, seek out the lost shards of his soul, and bring order to the realms!" The first official Iron Maiden comic series, based on the band's hit mobile role playing game - Iron Maiden: Legacy of The Beast - where players battle as Eddie across the many worlds of Iron Maiden's discography, from the ancient sands of Powerslave to the far future of the Final Frontier.