Book picks similar to
Blancaflor, the Hero with Secret Powers: A Folktale from Latin America: A Toon Graphic by Nadja Spiegelman
graphic-novel
graphic-novels
middle-grade
fiction
The Nameless City
Faith Erin Hicks - 2016
and no name.Built on an ancient mountain pass, the City is forever being invaded by one nation or another, and every new master gives it a new name. But for the natives, their home is the Nameless City, and those who try to name it are forever outsiders. Dreamy, sheltered Kaidu is one such outsider. He's a Dao born and bred — a son of the latest nation to occupy the Nameless City. Cynical, street-smart Rat is a native, and at first she hates Kai for everything he stands for. But Kai's love of his new home may be the one thing that can unite these two unlikely friends. And they will need to stand together at all costs......because the fate of the Nameless City rests in their hands.
Oh My Gods!
Stephanie Cooke - 2021
But when she moves to Greece to live with her eccentric, mysterious father, Zed, suddenly everything she thought about herself—about life—is up in the air.Starting a new school can be difficult, but starting school at Mt. Olympus Junior High, where students are gods and goddesses, just might take the cake. Especially when fellow classmates start getting turned to stone. Greek mythology . . . a little less myth, a little more eek! And if Karen’s classmates are immortal beings, who does that make her?
Making Friends
Kristen Gudsnuk - 2018
All her friends were in the same room and she knew what to expect from her life. But now that she's in seventh grade, she's in a new middle school, her friends are in different classes and forming new cliques, and she is completely lost. When Danielle inherits a magical sketchbook from her eccentric great aunt Elma, she draws Madison, an ideal best friend that springs to life right off the page! But even when you create a best friend, it's not easy navigating the ups and downs of relationships, and before long Danielle and Madison are not exactly seeing eye-to-eye.To make matters worse, Danielle has drawn the head of her favorite (and totally misunderstood) cartoon villain, Prince Neptune. He's also come to life and is giving her terrible advice about how to make people like her. When she rejects him and he goes on a rampage during a school pep rally, Danielle and Madison have to set aside their differences to stop him!
The Legend of Auntie Po
Shing Yin Khor - 2021
Thirteen-year-old Mei reimagines the myths of Paul Bunyan as starring a Chinese heroine while she works in a Sierra Nevada logging camp in 1885.Aware of the racial tumult in the years after the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Mei tries to remain blissfully focused on her job, her close friendship with the camp foreman's daughter, and telling stories about Paul Bunyan--reinvented as Po Pan Yin (Auntie Po), an elderly Chinese matriarch.Anchoring herself with stories of Auntie Po, Mei navigates the difficulty and politics of lumber camp work and her growing romantic feelings for her friend Bee. The Legend of Auntie Po is about who gets to own a myth, and about immigrant families and communities holding on to rituals and traditions while staking out their own place in America.
The Singing Rock & Other Brand-New Fairy Tales
Nathaniel Lachenmeyer - 2019
A witch is tormented by the cheerful (and awful) singing of a persistent bard, but when she finally snaps and turns him into a rock, he just keeps on singing—somehow the power of terrible music overcomes all magic. A wizard wants a pet. An ogre just wants to make beautiful art. Four original, wry, and utterly charming fairy tales comprise this new collection for young readers.With a deft, lively text from Nathaniel Lachenmeyer and eye-popping, painterly art by Simini Blocker, The Singing Rock is the perfect read for kids who love a good yarn—and good comics!
Phoebe and Her Unicorn
Dana Simpson - 2014
She has no choice ... one day she skipped a rock across a pond, and hit a unicorn in the face. Improbably, this resulted in a lasting friendship between Phoebe and the unicorn, one Marigold Heavenly Nostrils.Come along for the unicorn ride with Phoebe, as she deals with the usual burdens of childhood (cruel classmates, gym class, piano lessons) and also some unusual ones (magic hair, candy-breathing dragons, and the legendary Shield of Boringness).Can a precocious little girl and a self-absorbed mythical forest creature find common ground? Indeed they can, and that's how Phoebe and Her Unicorn unfolds.
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.
Otto: A Palindrama
Jon Agee - 2021
His pet, Pip, has gone missing, and his search for the dog leads him deeper and deeper into a strange and perplexing world--full of talking owls, stacks of cats, storms and mazes, boats and trains and automobiles . . . oh my! Everything seems to be the same backward and forward, and Pip isn't sure he'll ever find his way home to Mom and Pop. But you, reader, will enjoy his Oz-like journey thoroughly.
Snow White
Matt Phelan - 2016
The dazzling lights cast shadows that grow ever darker as the glitzy prosperity of the Roaring Twenties screeches to a halt. Enter a cast of familiar characters: a young girl, Samantha White, returning after being sent away by her cruel stepmother, the Queen of the Follies, years earlier; her father, the King of Wall Street, who survives the stock market crash only to suffer a strange and sudden death; seven street urchins, brave protectors for a girl as pure as snow; and a mysterious stock ticker that holds the stepmother in its thrall, churning out ticker tape imprinted with the wicked words "Another . . . More Beautiful . . . KILL." In a moody, cinematic new telling of a beloved fairy tale, extraordinary graphic novelist Matt Phelan captures the essence of classic film noir on the page—and draws a striking distinction between good and evil.
Tamamo the Fox Maiden and Other Asian Stories
Kel McDonaldJonathan Dalton - 2016
. . I assume.”Vengeful spirits, flying ogres, helpful teapots, ghost pepper ghosts, and trickster tigers? That’s just the start of this lively collection of Asian folktales, reimagined and retold in comics!This second volume of the "Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales" graphic novel series is a thrilling, funny, and totally unexpected take on stories spanning the entirety of the Asian continent, with loads of lesser-known myths and legends from Tibet, India, Indonesia, and beyond. Featuring the work of Gene Luen Yang, Nick Dragotta, Blue Delliquanti, Carla Speed McNeil, Nina Matsumoto, and many more!
Sea Sirens
Amy Chu - 2019
. . and mayhem!Trot, a Vietnamese American surfer girl, and Cap'n Bill, her cranky one-eyed cat, catch too big a wave and wipe out, sucked down into a magical underwater kingdom where an ancient deep-sea battle rages. The beautiful Sea Siren mermaids are under attack from the Serpent King and his slithery minions--and Trot and her feline become dangerously entangled in this war of tails and fins.This graphic novel was inspired by The Sea Fairies, L. Frank Baum's "underwater Wizard of Oz." It weaves Vietnamese mythology, fantastical ocean creatures, and a deep-sea setting.
Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley's Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Granddaughter
Brea Grant - 2020
But this Mary Shelley, named after her great-great-great-great-great grandmother, doesn’t want anything to do with that legacy. Then a strangely pale (and really cute) boy named Adam shows up and asks her to heal a wound he got under mysterious circumstances, and Mary learns something new about her family: the first Mary Shelley had the power to heal monsters, and Mary has it, too. Now the monsters won’t stop showing up, Mary can’t get her mother Tawny to leave her alone about writing something (anything!), she can’t tell her best friend Rhonda any of this, and all Mary wants is to pass biology.
Invisible Emmie
Terri Libenson - 2017
This is the story of two totally different girls—quiet, shy, artistic Emmie and popular, outgoing, athletic Katie—and how their lives unexpectedly intersect one day when an embarrassing note falls into the wrong hands.
Princeless, Vol. 1: Save Yourself
Jeremy Whitley - 2012
Join Adrienne, her guardian dragon, Sparky, and their plucky friend Bedelia as they begin their own quest in this one of a kind, action packed, all-ages adventure!Graphic Novel. Collects issues 1-4 of Princeless.
The Breakaways
Cathy G. Johnson - 2019
To her surprise, Amanda, a popular eighth grader, convinces her to join the school soccer team, the Bloodhounds. Having never played soccer in her life, Faith ends up on the C team, a ragtag group that’s way better at drama than at teamwork. Although they are awful at soccer, Faith and her teammates soon form a bond both on and off the soccer field that challenges their notions of loyalty, identity, friendship, and unity.The Breakaways is a portrait of friendship in its many forms, and a raw and beautifully honest look into the lives of a diverse and defiantly independent group of kids learning to make room for themselves in the world.