I’m an American-born cartoonist who’s been living and working in Montreal since 2015. My mother is from Quebec, and when I immigrated here I was looking to reconnect with my cultural roots. Reading graphic novels from here was a huge part of how I got to know my adopted community. I might be a bit biased, but I have to say Quebec has one of the world’s most vibrant comic arts scenes; a blend of American comic books mixed with Franco-Belgian bande dessinée. With more and more graphic novels from Quebec getting translated into English you’re sure to find something you’ll dig, whether you’re looking for slice-of-life or science fiction.
What’s worse than a Montreal winter? How about four straight years of Montreal winter! While a nuclear power plant melting down and blanketing the metropolis with irradiated snow might seem like a horrible situation, Cab plays this apocalypse for laughs. Gertrude, a superhumanly-strong, snowmobile-piloting delivery driver, has to face off against irradiated beasts, gargantuan snowflakes, and even the withering scorn of fashionable Mile End hipsters. Maniacally creative and drawn with a light touch.
Nothing's rougher than a Canadian winter . . . except maybe one that never ends!
It's been nine years since an accident at a nuclear power plant plunged Montreal into an eternal winter; the city is now blanketed 365 days a year in radioactive snow. But life goes on for folks like Flavie Beaumont, a mail courier on snowmobile who's carved out a pretty normal life for herself, despite mutant crushes, eclectic urban fauna, and unrelenting meteorological events of unprecedented force. It turns out surviving nuclear winter is hard . . . but it's possible surviving your twenties is even…
I grew up a child of the movies, open to watching anything at least once and countlessly rewatching the movies I loved. When not in front of a television, I was instead in front of a book, playing the words of the page out in my imagination. Now I write thrillers of multiple varieties (action, techno, paranormal, etc.), still visualizing words as movies playing out in my mind. Over the years, I’ve seen the quality of novel adaptations grow (e.g., Harry Potter, The Martian, etc.), and yet these staples of my youth have always stuck with me as lost opportunities to deliver a superior work to the general movie-watching audience.
I’m cheating slightly with this one, as Death Note is a twelve-volume manga rather than a singular novel. But the twelve volumes comprise one single, cohesive, top-notch story that I’d pit against any of my favorite, more traditional novels.
Death Note has been adapted into an anime, a Japanese series of movies, and, most recently, a Netflix movie. The anime is excellent. The Japanese movies are also pretty good. But that Netflix movie… compared to the source material, it’s utter garbage.
And unfortunately, because of Netflix’s popularity, it’s the version most people are likely familiar with. And that’s really sad, because I personally feel it damages a brand that has otherwise had great representation in multiple media formats. If the Netflix movie is all you’ve seen, do yourself a favor and pick up the original manga. You won’t regret it!
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects - and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Noteto rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal...or his life?
I grew up and have often lived around water and ships—Norfolk, VA, Aiea, Hawaii, Savannah, Georgia—and I’ve always had a fascination with things nautical. As a cartoonist, I’m of course always on the lookout for comics that overlap with this interest. Curiously, these sorts of stories seem to be few and far between in the U.S. but more of a genre staple in Europe—France in particular. I tried to highlight here not just books that I particularly like, but books that are representative of the breadth and depth that the comics medium can offer in art style, tone, and intended audience. I hope you enjoy some of these as much as I have!
This is a beautiful little book in an interesting format—a single image per page—that tells the story of a poet whose romanticizing about life on the sea is put to the test when he’s shanghaied and made part of a crew of sailors heading for Hong Kong. Don’t be fooled by Drew’s stunning cartooning that evokes the glory of the heyday of newspaper cartooning (think E.C. Segar, Walt Kelly, etc.); this is a book for grown-ups.
A poet is shanghaied and adventures on the high seas in this graphic novel: now in paperback.
The central character of Set to Sea is a big lug and an aspiring poet who runs up tabs at the local bars by day and haunts the docks by night, writing paeans to the seafaring life. When he gets shanghaied aboard a clipper bound for Hong Kong, he finds the sailor’s life a bit rougher than his romantic nautical fantasies, but he learns to live―and love―a Conradian life on the sea, all the while writing poetry about pirates, bad food, unceremonial funerals,…
Hi there! I am a children’s author, illustrator, and designer living in MA. I spend a lot of time thinking about how important friendship is to me; both the good and bad times, and how I could have handled certain scenarios differently. Books give us the opportunity to act out scenarios without having to live them. Books can teach us mannerisms and coping skills, making us more prepared for life. They also give us an opportunity to take a break from reality and sneak off into other worlds from time to time. Every book on my list highlights the importance of friendship and the thrill of adventure, I hope you enjoy them!
A young girl, who appears to be different from the other kids in her town, finds a misplaced robot and teaches it the joys of nature (exploring, petting cats, skipping rocks, etc.). They continue to meet every day, and each day their friendship grows stronger. Eventually, the friends realize they are very different, and the robot longs to find more of his kind.
The concepts are more advanced in this story than the others I’ve chosen. The girl is a loner who finds a friend she wants to protect by any means. The robot resists her protective nature because he wants to be free. Through this struggle, we watch the girl uncover a talent for tinkering and building that helps everyone in the end.
Ben Hatke does so much storytelling in his amazing art. Most of the dialogue consists of Jonks, Morps, and other sound effects. I would recommend this…
A lonely girl befriends a sweet little robot in this brand new adventure from Zita the Spacegirl author Ben Hatke! When a little girl finds an adorable robot in the woods, she presses a button and accidentally activates him for the first time. Now, she finally has a friend. But the big, bad robots are coming to collect the little guy for nefarious purposes, and it's all up to a five-year-old armed only with a wrench and a fierce loyalty to her mechanical friend to save the day!
I began my career as an assistant nursery school teacher when I graduated from college. My head teacher was my mentor. She knew how to engage children with her storytelling. She also managed to inspire children with an enthusiasm for learning. She challenged each child to develop his/her own individual skills. I loved the way she was able to connect with children, and for me, she was the ideal role model. Throughout my teaching career, I tried to connect with the children I taught. My goal was to reach every child, to stimulate their desire for learning, and to help them develop positive self-esteem in a nurturing environment.
Can a Pigeon drive a bus? The bus driver asks the “readers” to say “No”. But the Pigeon keeps trying.
It’s a fun easy read, and the whimsical illustrations make the book memorable for children and help cue the listener's part. I especially like the book because the responsive “No” fully engages children in the story.
When the bus driver decides to take a break from driving, a wild and wacky pigeon pleads and begs to take his place, in a hilarious picture book that perfectly captures a preschooler's temper tantrum.
I’m not usually a fan of graphic novels, particularly since I mostly read ebooks these days. It’s tough to enjoy graphic novels in that format. But I made an exception for Books of Magic because it was from Neil Gaiman and because it was a fresh take on the coming-of-age theme.
I love Gaiman’s imagination. His twelve-year-old potential magician, Timothy Hunter, who precedes Harry Potter by a few years, is an angsty teenager who just might be special. But instead of going to a school, he’s given a dangerous trip through time and space by DC occult figures like John Constantine. The journey gives Gaiman a chance to describe a wide variety of exotic settings and unusual people.
I’m also drawn to the suspenseful nature of the plot. Far more than Timothy’s life is at stake here. It’s well worth torturously navigating an e-reader to see the illustrations.
What do two dead boys and a normal 13-year-old have in common? The ability to save the world. Charles and Edwin are dead. They re also detectives. Tim Hunter is alive. He could be the world s greatest mage once he masters magic. And that s just the beginning. Readers can now enjoy The Books of Magic #1-32, The Children s Crusade #1-2, Vertigo Gallery: Dreams and Nightmares #1, Vertigo Preview #1, Vertigo Visions - Doctor Occult #1, Who s Who #15, Arcana Annual #1, Mister E #1-4, and The Books of Faerie: Auberon s Tale #1-3 all in one…
Creatively formulating, cultivating, and producing high-quality fiction “masterpieces” is what I was destined to do. The art of writing is a “gift & passion” that runs rapidly through my veins. Propelled through an obitual love of reading adventurous tales and storytelling as a young child my writing voyage has expanded to writing poetry, monologues, and screen writing. Combining all imaginative inspired gifts and talents refined by a burning passion to communicate prolific narrations like no other author can. Inspirational, impactful authors that paved the way for me to be here are Maya Angelou, Roald Dahl, Theodor Seuss Geisel, Levar Burton, and Nikki Giovanni.
I particularly enjoyed reading this book for its exuberating passion for standing up for one’s beliefs within the crusader expedition of battle.
Its formation is that of a clever and well-preformed narrative. Marvel Comics introduces a vicious and corrupt government that attempts to entrap these superheroes into a reprehensible system of Tyranny. Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, and The Fantastic Four, among others, align with their patriot allegiances to engage in this bloody war to the end.
The plot was intense. Overall, this narrative was fun and exciting to read leaving you on the edge of your seat until the end.
SPIDER-MAN * IRON MAN CAPTAIN AMERICA * THE FANTASTIC FOUR
THE EPIC STORY THAT BLOWS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE APART!
Iron Man and Captain America: two core members of the Avengers, the world's greatest super hero team. When a tragic battle blows a hole in the city of Stamford, killing hundreds of people, the U.S. government demands that all super heroes unmask and register their powers. To Tony Stark-Iron Man-it's a regrettable but necessary step. To Captain America, it's an unbearable assault on civil liberties.
SO BEGINS THE CIVIL WAR.
BASED ON THE SMASH-HIT GRAPHIC NOVEL THAT HAS SOLD MORE THAN…
Two books that I read as a young child were very important to me. The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss made me think about riches, poverty, and the power that rich people have to make stupid rules; and poor people have no choice but to obey them. The Japanese Twins from Lucy Fitch Perkins' series on twins from different cultures gave me a life-long interest in cultural differences. Not only did they think differently, depending on their culture, they also had different skin colours. Later I learned about racism when I worked with unhappy displaced children and interpreted for asylum-seekers. I write from a child's perspective, making books accessible to all ages.
I chose this story to illustrate the plight of Jewish people during the Nazi occupation in France. Catherine's War is based on the true story of a Jewish girl named Rachel Cohen who had to leave her boarding school near Paris and find somewhere safe to live. Rachel has to change her name to Catherine Colin and hide her Jewish identity in order to survive. She was sustained by her beautiful camera, which gave her a record of all that she had to through.
“A shining story of a young girl who struggles to come of age and find her place in a world fraught with danger.” —Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Newbery Honor-winning author of Hitler Youth
* Winner of the Youth Prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival (voted by readers) * Winner of the Artémisia Prize for Historical Fiction * Winner of the Andersen Premio Prize *
A magnificent narrative inspired by a true survival story that asks universal questions about a young girl’s coming of age story, her identity, her passions, and her first loves.
I'm a gay cartoonist and editor who lives and breathes graphic novels. As an editor at Graphix, Scholastic's graphic novel imprint, I've worked with Dav Pilkey, Jamar Nicholas, Angeli Rafer, Kane Lynch, and many others. As a cartoonist, I'm the author and illustrator of Out of Left Field, which is based on my experiences as a closeted kid on the high school baseball team. So many wonderful books have influenced my journey and career, but these are some of my favorites: groundbreaking graphic novels that helped make Out of Left Field possible.
To put this on a list of gay coming-of-age graphic novels feels potentially like a spoiler, but in the hopes that I’ll convince at least one other person to read this near-perfect book, I’ll take the risk!
A decade after its publication, few, if any, graphic novelists have managed to match the quality of this brilliantly written, elegantly drawn, subtly rendered, and wonderfully atmospheric book about two girls whose sexualities start to manifest during a summer vacation with their families.
Mariko and Jillian Tamaki are always brilliant, but this book remains, in my opinion, their best work.
Every summer, Rose goes with her mum and dad to a lake house in Awago Beach. It's their getaway, their refuge. Rosie's friend Windy is always there, too, like the little sister she never had. But this summer is different. Rose's mum and dad won't stop fighting, and when Rose and Windy seek a distraction from the drama, they find themselves with a whole new set of problems. It's a summer of secrets and sorrow and growing up, and it's a good thing Rose and Windy have each other.
Spencer Quinn's Mrs. Plansky, a retired 70-something in a Florida retirement community, falls victim to a scam that cleans out her savings. She has no job, no husband (he's recently deceased), an elderly and difficult father, and several needy grown children with ridiculous schemes that would require big cash infusions from their mother.
She decides she can't take this blow lying down and rises to the occasion in the most charming and wildly believable way. (Hint: she travels to Romania to track down and confront the scammers.)
Since I enjoy Richard Osman's books about a foursome of senior sleuths and adore writing octogenarian Miss Gloria in my Key West mysteries, Mrs. Plansky struck me as the perfect spunky sleuth.
Mrs. Loretta Plansky, a recent widow in her seventies, is settling into retirement in Florida while dealing with her 98-year-old father and fielding requests for money from her beloved children and grandchildren. Thankfully, her new hip hasn't changed her killer tennis game one bit.
One night Mrs. Plansky is startled awake by a phone call from a voice claiming to be her grandson Will, who desperately needs ten thousand dollars to get out of a jam. Of course, Loretta obliges-after all, what are grandmothers for, even grandmothers who still haven't gotten a simple "thank you" for a gift sent weeks…
