Book List – YALSA 2020 Great Graphic Novels for Teens

The official titles of YALSA’s 2020 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list have been announced. | Teens

YALSA Top Graphic Novels 2019

The official titles of YALSA’s 2020 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list have been announced.

The list consists of 103 titles selected from 178 official nominations – view the full list here.

The YALSA blogging team chose the following titles as its top ten – click the title to put on hold and pick up at a library near you!

TOP  TEN

Bloom. By Kevin Panetta. Art by Savanna Ganucheau. A recent high school graduate, Ari, works in his family-owned bakery and plays in an indie band with 4 of his best friends in a small coastal town. When an accident occurs at the bakery, Ari has to rethink what he wants to do with his life and what will bring him happiness.

Cosmoknights: Book One. By Hanna Templer. Art by the author. Pan lives a very ordinary world on a planet called Verdian. She spends most of her time working in her father’s shop and hanging out with her friend, Tara, who is a princess. But when Tara’s life takes a very different turn, Pan gets a chance to bring down an archaic medieval-type jousting tradition.

I Was Their American Dream: a Graphic Memoir. By Malaka Gharib. Art by the author. Malaka tells her story of being Filipino, Egyptian and American growing up in Cerritos, California. She details her life of being the “perfect Filipino kid” during the year with her mom while also trying to navigate the customs of her father’s home in Egypt during the summer.

Kiss Number 8. By Colleen AF Venable. Art by Ellen T. Crenshaw. The first seven kisses 16-year-old Amanda has experienced were less than exceptional. But after finding out that her father, her ultimate best friend, is keeping a secret from her, and realizing she may have a crush on Cat, her best friend from her conservative Catholic school, everything in Amanda’s life starts to shift. Which leads to her 8th kiss—the one that changes everything.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me. By Mariko Tamaki. Art by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell. Laura Dean has broken up with Freddy three times. Laura Dean keeps coming back and Freddy keeps taking her back despite Laura Dean’s blatant cheating. After visiting a medium, Freddy finds herself questioning whether or not Laura Dean can be monogamous and how she can get on with her life without Laura Dean.

The Life of Frederick Douglass: A Graphic Narrative of a Slave’s Journey from Bondage to Freedom. By David F. Walker. Art by Damon Smyth, Marissa Louise. The story of Frederick Douglass from his birth into slavery to his celebration by dignitaries is brought to readers in this spectacular graphic novel.

Pumpkinheads. By Rainbow Rowell. Art by Faith Erin Hicks. On their final night of work at DeKnock’s Pumpkin Patch, high school seniors and “Patch” friends Josiah and Deja decide to make their final shift an adventurous one as they explore the park’s many sights and tasty treats in search of the Fudge Girl, Josiah’s long-time, unrequited crush.

Simon & Louise. By Max de Radiguès. Art by the author. The school year is over and it’s time for Louise to leave on her family vacation for two months, leaving boyfriend Simon on his own. Within a day, Louise has changed her Facebook status to “single” and Simon has no idea why. Louise tells him her Dad forbids the relationship, but Simon refuses to accept that and leaves home to hitchhike to the beach town to win Louise back.

They Called Us Enemy. By George Takei and Justin Eisinger. Art by Harmony Becker. Before he was Sulu on the starship Enterprise, boldly going where no one has gone before, actor George Takei was a little boy struggling to understand why his family was packing up and going to live in a horse stable. Readers see history in a clear, concise, compelling context and follow Takei on his journey from childhood ignorance to righteous teenage anger and finally to a life of dedicated activism.

Witch Hat Atelier. By Kamome Shirahama. Art by the author. Coco dreams of being a magician. In her world, the only way to learn magic is to already be a witch and Coco is not. One day a band of traveling witches comes to town, and Coco meets the enigmatic Qifrey. Her world is turned upside down when she accidentally performs a spell that traps her mother in stone. To rescue her, she must leave with Qifrey and become his magical apprentice in a land far from home.

Forest Park Branch: “Gun violence, equality: The raw concerns of Springfield’s youth” (WWLP)

Outside the Forest Park Library are dozens of lawn signs with the raw concerns of Springfield’s youth.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – They can’t vote yet, but Springfield’s youth has a good handle on what issues face their community and their country.

Outside the Forest Park Library are dozens of lawn signs that look like the ones you typically see during election season. If you look closer, however, you’ll see the raw concerns of Springfield’s youth: gun violence, racism, and sexual harassment.

The project was spearheaded by Forest Park Library’s supervisor Alex Remy and allowed Springfield middle and high schoolers to fill in what they wanted ‘Freedom From’ and ‘Freedom For.’ It was inspired by a similar project at Waltham Public Library.

Click through for article and picture gallery.

Springfield children clock over 500,000 summer reading minutes… so far

MassLive highlights Springfield kids’ summer reading totals so far – join our Summer Reading Club to contribute!

From the article at MassLive:

So far this summer, Springfield children have read 27,919 times at 20 minutes a session, amounting to 558,380 minutes of page-turning as part of the Springfield Reads to Build a Better World summer reading project. The results were announced at an assembly Tuesday at Central High School.

“We’re more than halfway there, and we have a few weeks left of the summer,” said Goren-Watts, a principal planner and manager of data, education and municipal technology at the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. “We need you all to keep reading, tell all your friends to keep reading.”

Springfield Reads to Build a Better World started in 2017. It is made up of 13 summer reading programs throughout the city along with the city’s summer schools.