100 books like Sidekicks

By Dan Santat,

Here are 100 books that Sidekicks fans have personally recommended if you like Sidekicks. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Be Prepared

Misty Wilson Author Of Play Like a Girl

From my list on graphic novels featuring girls who persevere.

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up, if I wasn’t good at something right away, I’d quit. I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of others. Because of that, I never experienced how great it felt to overcome obstacles, to succeed at something hard—until I played football. Girls Who Persevere is an important topic to me because so often, girls are treated as if they’re inferior or incapable. It’s ingrained in them that they shouldn’t try certain things (like football!), and if they fail at first, it must mean they can’t do it. I think it’s important to see strong girls doing big things, even when they’re hard. These books show just that.

Misty's book list on graphic novels featuring girls who persevere

Misty Wilson Why did Misty love this book?

This humorous and heartfelt graphic memoir is about Vera going to a Russian summer camp—an opportunity to fit in with other kids, especially since the American girls from school go to summer camp. I love this story because wanting to fit in such a universal experience, yet Vera’s experience is unique in many ways. Plus, I love a good summer camp story. After begging her mom to let her go, Vera ends up hating camp, but she sticks it out, makes real friends, and learns so much about herself. 

By Vera Brosgol,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Be Prepared as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, 12, and 13.

What is this book about?

All Vera wants to do is fit in - but that's not easy for a Russian girl in the suburbs. Her friends live in fancy houses and their parents can afford to send them to the best summer camps. Vera's single mother can't afford that sort of luxury, but there's one summer camp in her price range - Russian summer camp.

Vera is sure she's found the one place she can fit in, but camp is far from what she imagined. And nothing could prepare her for all the 'cool girl' drama, endless Russian history lessons, and outhouses straight out…


Book cover of Robot Dreams

Kristin O’Donnell Tubb Author Of A Dog Like Daisy

From my list on books for kids told from a dog’s point of view.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the author of eleven books for middle-grade readers, including three books from a dog’s point of view. These books have won five state book awards between them, and have been published in other languages. I’ve been writing for young readers for over 20 years. I also live with four furry friends of my own: Cookie (a cockapoo), Myrtle (a pug), Nala (a calico cat), and Daisy (a sweet mutt cat). I miss my big-hearted goldendoodle Lucky every day. And, like my dogs, I can be bribed with cheese.

Kristin's book list on books for kids told from a dog’s point of view

Kristin O’Donnell Tubb Why did Kristin love this book?

I might be cheating a bit on this one; half of the story is told by Dog, yes, but the other half is told by Robot. This is a wordless graphic novel, and it is a deeply moving story about the seasons of friendship.

Robot Dreams shows us just how fragile our dearest relationships can be if we don’t lovingly and tenderly take care of them. This story shows the bliss and joy of a new friendship, the pain of a friendship ending, and the growth it takes to move forward.

I love this book with my whole heart, and I believe it is the perfect graphic novel. It is now an Oscar-nominated animated feature, so I’m not alone in my love of this beautiful story. 

By Sara Varon,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Robot Dreams as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This affecting, charming graphic novel about a dog and a robot shows us in poignant detail how powerful and fragile relationships are. After a Labor Day jaunt to the beach leaves the robot rusted, immobilized in the sand, the dog must return alone to the life they shared. But the memory of their friendship lingers, and as the seasons pass, the dog tries to fill the emotional void left by the loss of his closest friend, making and losing a series of friends, from a melting snowman to epicurean anteaters. But for the robot, lying rusting on the beach, the…


Book cover of Space Dumplins

Scott SanGiacomo Author Of Bedhead Ted

From my list on navigating friendships and family.

Why am I passionate about this?

Hi, my name is Scott SanGiacomo, (San-JAH-Ko-mo) from Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Stories have always been important to me. From the ones read to me as a boy; to the comics I devoured as an adolescent; all the way to the stories I read to my own children. I’m inspired to create stories and art that explore childhood and the universal themes that follow us into adulthood. I hope you enjoy my list of graphic novels about navigating friendships and family.

Scott's book list on navigating friendships and family

Scott SanGiacomo Why did Scott love this book?

I love a good adventure, don’t you? Craig Thompson has created a space-epic about friendship, family, and loyalty. Violet is a young girl who sets out on an adventure to save her Dad, who’s gone missing. With his usual jaw-dropping illustrations, this action-packed graphic novel is full of interesting characters, amazing settings, and cool spaceships! I found it to be very cinematic. It’s a fun ride, full of heart and important messages. Perfect for 8-14-year-olds who like to be engulfed in a new world.

By Craig Thompson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Space Dumplins as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

'Like the twisted lovechild of Jack Kirby and Dr Seuss, Craig Thompson has created a new genre: the Adorable Epic.' JOSS WHEDON

From the Eisner award winning, New York Times bestselling author of Habibi and Blankets, comes this year's most exciting adventure.

For Violet, family is the most important thing in the whole galaxy. So when her father goes missing while on a hazardous job, she can't just sit around and do nothing. Throwing caution to the stars, she sets out with a group of misfit friends on a quest to find him. But space is a big and dangerous…


Book cover of New Kid

Alyssa Bermudez Author Of Big Apple Diaries

From my list on graphic novels for young readers to encourage empathy.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a graphic novel creator and art teacher with years of experience, I understand the importance of introducing serious topics for discussion in an accessible way. My art students of all ages are curious about different subjects, wondering what life is like for others and if their own feelings are normal. Graphic novels are a perfect tool for fostering these discussions. Having been interested in comics as a medium for a long time, I'm thrilled to share this with young audiences and encourage exploration of diverse perspectives.

Alyssa's book list on graphic novels for young readers to encourage empathy

Alyssa Bermudez Why did Alyssa love this book?

Representation in literature matters, and Jerry Craft's book offers a unique perspective on a young boy's experience of transferring to a private middle school where he stands out due to his race and socioeconomic background.

The book thoughtfully highlights microaggressions and their impact, making it an essential read for children. It's an excellent starting point for important conversations on race, identity, and friendship.

By Jerry Craft,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked New Kid as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Winner of the Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Kirkus Prize for Young Readers' Literature!

Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Gene Luen Yang, New Kid is a timely, honest graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real, from award-winning author-illustrator Jerry Craft.

Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is…


Book cover of Deadpool

Reginald Wiebe Author Of The Cancer Plot: Terminal Immortality in Marvel's Moral Universe

From my list on superhero comics that consider illness.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been a devoted reader of superhero comics since I was bequeathed a battered pile of comics (along with a giant felt-covered Denver Broncos cowboy hat. The love of superheroes stuck; I’m ambivalent about the Broncos). In that pile was Superboy #195, a comic I can still recite from memory decades later. The combination of clever plotting, visual storytelling, and fantastical escapism hooked me immediately. While building an academic career as a university professor, I held on to this “secret origin” and never stopped wondering what made superhero stories tick.

Reginald's book list on superhero comics that consider illness

Reginald Wiebe Why did Reginald love this book?

Deadpool is superhero comics', and perhaps literature in general’s, most consistently challenging fictional engagement with cancer. Deadpool’s healing factor prevents his cancer from ever being cured, which traps him in a never-ending cycle of remission and relapse.

Unlike a superhero who responds to a bodily transformation by self-sacrificingly upholding the status quo, Deadpool is a mercenary and anti-hero. In this collection, writer Joe Kelly creates much of the narrative infrastructure that eventually made the character one of Marvel’s most popular.

Kelly also crafts a story where Deadpool is offered a heroic transformation thatthrough personal weakness, history, bad luck, and supervillainous interferencetragically fails. This book establishes the template for Deadpool stories and digs into Deadpool’s cancer for the first time.

By Joe Kelly, James Felder, Ed McGuinness (artist)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Deadpool as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Includes dusk jacket. Read once, then sat on bookshelf. Looks like it did when I bought it.


Book cover of Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human

Blake M. Petit Author Of Other People's Heroes

From my list on superheroes outside of graphic novels.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a writer and teacher from Ama, Louisiana, who has also been a reader of comic books since I first learned how to read. I spent many years as a columnist, reviewer, and podcaster for a now-defunct comic site, while also working on my own novels, humor columns, and even the occasional stage play. My time these days is split between my day job as a high school English teacher, my dream job writing, and my full-time job of being the father of a five-year-old.

Blake's book list on superheroes outside of graphic novels

Blake M. Petit Why did Blake love this book?

Not a novel, but Supergods is one of the most intriguing books about the superhero as a concept that I’ve ever read. In Supergods, the always thought-provoking Grant Morrison digs into what superheroes actually are by picking apart archetypes, delving into the history of the medium, and exploring their place as a sort of modern mythology. Having written countless superhero comics, including some of the most surreal such stories ever to exist, Morrison is in a unique position to dissect the genre in a way that leaves you thinking about what superheroes mean and why they matter. It's the kind of book that makes you examine what the building blocks of superheroes are, and as someone who enjoys playing in that sandbox, it makes me look at one of my favorite genres in new and unique ways. 

By Grant Morrison,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Supergods as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human

Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, and the X-Men—the list of names as familiar as our own. They are on our movie and television screens, in our videogames and in our dreams. But what are they trying to tell us? For Grant Morrison, one of the most acclaimed writers in the world of comics, these heroes are powerful archetypes who reflect and predict the course of human existence: Through them we tell the story of ourselves. In this exhilarating work…


Book cover of The Doom Patrol Omnibus

Reginald Wiebe Author Of The Cancer Plot: Terminal Immortality in Marvel's Moral Universe

From my list on superhero comics that consider illness.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been a devoted reader of superhero comics since I was bequeathed a battered pile of comics (along with a giant felt-covered Denver Broncos cowboy hat. The love of superheroes stuck; I’m ambivalent about the Broncos). In that pile was Superboy #195, a comic I can still recite from memory decades later. The combination of clever plotting, visual storytelling, and fantastical escapism hooked me immediately. While building an academic career as a university professor, I held on to this “secret origin” and never stopped wondering what made superhero stories tick.

Reginald's book list on superhero comics that consider illness

Reginald Wiebe Why did Reginald love this book?

I’m recommending this book for how delightfully it considers the ill human body as a site of new possibilities. The Doom Patrol have never been well-known superheroes, perhaps because of the willingness of writers to confront the bodily trauma at the heart of their stories.

Morrison’s contribution to the series was to consider the Doom Patrol truly as freaks: people who could not fit into a society that demands gender, mental, and physical homogeneity. Mixing allegorical forms of illnessCliff “Robotman” Steele’s fallible technological bodywith more direct conditions like Kaye “Crazy Jane” Callis’ dissociative identity disorder.

Morrison, along with artistic collaborators, built a celebration of difference into a genre where most heroic bodies never break the mold.

By Grant Morrison, Richard Case,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Doom Patrol Omnibus as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

The new Doom Patrol puts itself back together after nearly being destroyed, and things start to get a lot weirder for everybody. The Chief leads Robotman, the recently formed Rebis, and new member Crazy Jane against the Scissormen, part of a dangerous, philosophical location that has escaped into our world and is threatening to engulf reality itself. Collecting Grant Morrison's definitive run, which launched his career as one of the comic industry's most innovative and creative writers! Collects Doom Patrol #19-63 and Doom Force Special #1.


Book cover of X-Men: The Mutant Empire Omnibus

Percival Constantine Author Of Heroes Forged

From my list on superheroes that aren’t comics.

Why am I passionate about this?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by superheroes. Maybe it’s because as a bit of an outcast myself growing up, I gravitated towards stories of people who were outside society, yet actually more powerful because of it. Perhaps I’m drawn to the idea of people who work outside the system to make the world a better place, regardless of if it’s dangerous to them or if they don’t reap any kind of personal reward. Or maybe I just like to watch beautiful people in colorful costumes beat the crap out of each other. You can always listen to me on the Superhero Cinephiles podcast to hear me talk more about superheroes.

Percival's book list on superheroes that aren’t comics

Percival Constantine Why did Percival love this book?

If you were a fan of the X-Men animated series, then this next pick is the book for you. Magneto and his followers take control of a fleet of the mutant-hunting Sentinels with the express purpose of establishing a new mutant nation. Naturally, the X-Men have to stop him, but with half the team on a mission in space, that’s a tall order. Golden writes a story that’s perfect nostalgia bait for anyone who loved the 90s X-Men.

By Christopher Golden,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked X-Men as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Bringing the classic X-Men: Mutant Empire trilogy back into print in a brand-new omnibus

MAGNETO'S EMPIRE WILL RISE...

They live as outcasts, hated and feared by the very humanity they protect. They are mutants, born with strange and wonderful powers that set them apart from the rest of the human race. Under the tutelage of Professor Charles Xavier, they are more than mutants. They are-the X-Men.

Magneto-the X-Men's oldest, deadliest foe-has taken over a top-secret government installation that houses the Sentinels, powerful mutant-hunting robots. The X-Men must fight to keep this deadly technology out of Magneto's hands and stop him…


Book cover of When Strikes the Warlord

Percival Constantine Author Of Heroes Forged

From my list on superheroes that aren’t comics.

Why am I passionate about this?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by superheroes. Maybe it’s because as a bit of an outcast myself growing up, I gravitated towards stories of people who were outside society, yet actually more powerful because of it. Perhaps I’m drawn to the idea of people who work outside the system to make the world a better place, regardless of if it’s dangerous to them or if they don’t reap any kind of personal reward. Or maybe I just like to watch beautiful people in colorful costumes beat the crap out of each other. You can always listen to me on the Superhero Cinephiles podcast to hear me talk more about superheroes.

Percival's book list on superheroes that aren’t comics

Percival Constantine Why did Percival love this book?

The next Avengers movie is a few years away and there’s no way of knowing when (or if) there will be another Justice League movie. So if you’re looking for some epic, superhero team action to hold you over until then, look no further than Van Allen Plexico’s Sentinels series. This is the kind of widescreen superhero action you’ve come to expect from the MCU and Plexico’s love of the genre drips off every page.

By Van Allen Plexico, Chris Kohler (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked When Strikes the Warlord as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The power-mad Warlord stands poised to conquer-- or destroy-- the universe itself. Can anyone stand in his way? Enter the Sentinels: College student Lyn Li... Brilliant inventor and smart-alec Esro Brachis... Beloved national hero Ultraa... Flamboyant showman Damon Sinclair... and mysterious alien powerhouse Vanadium. When at last they clash atop the Warlord's floating city, can the world itself survive?

The biggest and boldest superhero novel series ever written begins here! The first book in the critically-acclaimed Sentinels superhero novel series introduces the core of the team and the most dangerous-- and insane-- villain of them all: the Warlord!

"Grandiose storytelling…


Book cover of Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute: Lunch Lady #1

Ken Lamug Author Of Born to Be Bad

From my list on unexpected superheroes.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a professional dabbler who has tried things from beekeeping, duck herding, race car driving, coding, and filmmaking. But I am famously known as the author and illustrator of imaginative and fun children’s books and comics. My latest book is the hilarious supervillain graphic novel Mischief and Mayhem. It’s a story about Missy who gets kicked out of superhero boot camp and ends up as a supervillain (a nice and friendly one). I’ve always enjoyed reading about unexpected heroes and characters who flip the script. We all have challenges in our lives and when we face them head-on is when we truly find the heroes in ourselves.

Ken's book list on unexpected superheroes

Ken Lamug Why did Ken love this book?

The place you least expect for a hero to turn up is the lunchroom and that’s exactly what we get here. In this issue of a long-running series Lunch Lady and Betty, her assistant, investigate the strange case of a missing teacher, a creepy substitute, and how this all connects with the Teacher of the Year award. Scenes in the story revolve around the school which will make it relatable to school-going readers. Kids will have a new respect for people around them as they identify who could potentially be a hero in their own small way. 

By Jarrett J. Krosoczka,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 7, 8, 9, and 10.

What is this book about?

From the author of National Book Award finalist Hey, Kiddo.

Serving justice . . . and lunch!

Hector, Terrence, and Dee have always wondered about their school lunch lady. What does she do when she isn’t dishing out the daily special? Where does she live? Does she have a lot of cats at home? Little do they know, Lunch Lady doesn’t just serve sloppy joes—she serves justice! Whatever danger lies ahead, it’s no match for LUNCH LADY!


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in comics, superheros, and pets?

Comics 122 books
Superheros 115 books
Pets 55 books