Thursday, December 25, 2008

YALSA 2008 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens

Every year since 2007 Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) section of the American Library Association (ALA) has created both a long list and a top ten list of "great graphic novels for teens". You can see all the lists here. Previously they had included some graphic novels on their "best books for young adults" lists.

I was recently invited to give a guest lecture on the history of comics and graphic novels for children and young adults, and upon looking at these lists realized that I had read less than half of the book on the top ten lists (and hadn't even heard of others!). As a so called "expert" on graphic novels in libraries I didn't really think that this was appropriate, and decided to read as many of the volumes that I hadn't read as possible.

I'll be reviewing them as I read (or reread) them, and this page will eventually contain links to all the books from 2008. Here's the full list of nominations from 2008, and the top ten list. They occasionally have weird formatting or credits.

Laika by Nick Abadzis.

Re-Gifters by Mike Carey, Marc Hempel, and Sonny Liew.

The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam by Ann Marie Fleming.

Blue Beetle (Volumes 1-2) by Keith Giffen, John Rogers, Cully Hamner, Rafael Albuquerque, and others.

King of Thorn (Volumes 1-2) by Yuji Iwahara.

Sidescrollers by Matthew Loux.

After School Nightmare (Volumes 1-5) by Setona Mizushiro.

Emma (Volumes 1-5) by Kaoru Mori.

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan. 

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