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by Jeannine Wiese
Top Ten bestselling series for every age:
Top Selling Series for Grades 1-6
Top Selling Series for Grades 6-8
Top Selling Series for Teens
Top Selling Series for Older Teens
Publisher News:
New publisher, UDON Manga for Kids, reaches out to readers aged 7-12. As of April 2009, younger readers will have their chance to join the exciting world of manga they’ve seen their older brothers and sisters enjoying so much. UDON’s first four series cover popular genres that kids love: Fantasy, Sports, Music, and Space. New titles in each series will ship every three to four months.
The first four titles of each series include The Big Adventures of Majoko, Ninja Baseball Kyuma, Fairy Idol Kanon, and Swans in Space.
UDON’S extensive experience in bringing Asian-language materials to the English market assures booksellers and librarians of a quality product. They have spent the last two years researching the Japanese manga market to find titles suitable for kids in America. Their decision to publish only a few select titles means they can dedicate energy and attention to making each and every book a success.
Candlewick demonstrates a graphic novel push for 2009. Besides Gareth Hinds’s well-reviewed classic titles written for YA readers and the successful titles for elementary readers, look for several new titles and series for both age groups. Among them is the Max Disaster series by Marissa Moss, available this month and a brand new Sticky Burr: The Prickly Peril in hardcover and paperback coming in September.
For intermediate grade readers, a new series entitled Vermonia will be available soon on the Youth Graphic Novel Standing Order Program. Its first volume is entitled Quest for the Silver Tiger. Illustrated in the manga style, this fantasy epic focuses on four ordinary 14-year-olds’ attempt to save the planet of Vermonia from its dark, destructive ruler. An ancient prophecy has foretold the coming of brave young warriors who would challenge the evil Lord Uro, but in order to succeed these unsuspecting teens must first learn how to unleash their own special power animals--their true warrior spirits.
Younger YA readers aged 10-13 will be pleased with two strong stand-alone titles: The Storm in the Barn, Matt Phelan’s first graphic novel (see full review), and Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood by Tony Lee--both coming in September. And as of October, teens can further enrich their study of Shakespeare when Gareth Hinds’s King Lear moves to Candlewick.
Lerner’s Graphic Universe continues to grow its comics titles. Due to the success of its hybrid Twisted Journeys series and its Graphic Myths and Legends, Graphic Universe added a new fantasy adventure series in April, The ElseWhere Chronicles.
It’s a wonderfully illustrated, full-color, three-volume series that should have just enough light horror and mystery to pull in those 9- to 12-year-old readers. Educators should keep in mind all Lerner books including Graphic Universe titles are vetted for vocabulary and grade level. Lerner’s future publishing plans include new graphic novel projects on math as well as literary adaptations.
Yen Publishing, distributed by Hachette, adds letter codes to the outside of its manga books. These are designed to better identify questionable content that can be found within each book and help parents, librarians, and kids find books just right for their age. The codes are as follows:
L=language, S=sexual situations, V=violence, and N=nudity
An example series like Goong with a rating T for teen on its back cover also has the letter code LV indicating the content has some mild language and moderate violence. A series like Zombie-Loan rated OT for older teen (16+) has the letter code LNSV denoting the content has strong language, nudity to some degree, sexual situations, and strong violence. It’s worth noting that both teen and older teen titles may have the same letter codes but the degree of questionable content is greater for the OT titles.
Papercutz brings a bestselling early chapter book character to graphic novel format. Young readers will be eager to get their hands on the new graphic novel adaptations of the popular Geronimo Stilton series. The all-new, original stories will feature Geronimo and his thrill-seeking sister Thea as time travelers on a mission to stop several of Geronimo’s arch enemies from changing history. This new series launches in September with two titles, The Discovery of America and The Secret of the Sphinx with a third title coming in November. This series will also be available on the Youth Graphic Novel Standing Order Program.
Curriculum strand connections:
I was very excited to see that graphic novelist Jim Ottaviani, who has garnered numerous nominations and awards for his graphic novels about science, has written his first children’s graphic novel, T-Minus: The Race for the Moon. It’s a dramatic, fictionalized retelling of the historic Moon landing just in time for the 40th anniversary of that famous event. Readers will go back in time and witness the tense race between two superpowers for space supremacy. It will be a valued addition to all elementary and middle school global or space studies.
Recommended lists:
Graphic novels for high school psychology & health studies
Quality graphic novels for high school global studies
For high school environmental/eco-terrorism studies and discussions, pair well-reviewed Minx graphic novel Burnout with Putnam’s equally well-reviewed Torched.
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