Life after Dogman, graphic novels
December 3, 2019 11:51 AM   Subscribe

Looking for recommendations for graphic novels or comics appropriate for 7-9 year olds. Kid has already finished the Bad Kitty, Bad Guys series and Captain Underpants and Catsronauts as well. My current approach is to check out anything tagged elementary and graphic novel from the library but would appreciate authors or series. Note: Books with frequent pictures (eg like Bad Guys that aren't full graphic novels are okay.) More complex vocab okay, adult themes not okay.
posted by typecloud to Writing & Language (32 answers total) 30 users marked this as a favorite
 
In my house, that age range was all about Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
posted by BlahLaLa at 11:55 AM on December 3, 2019 [4 favorites]


These might not be graphic novel-y enough, but a natural progression would maybe be Big Nate, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Timmy Failure, or Tom Gates books.
posted by VirginiaPlain at 11:56 AM on December 3, 2019




Ursula Vernon's Dragonbreath series.
Ben Hatke's Zita the Spacegirl, and Mighty Jack.
Lunch Lady, by Jarrett Krosocska
Squish and Babymouse, by Jennifer L. Holm
posted by gideonfrog at 12:06 PM on December 3, 2019 [4 favorites]




Hilo!
posted by purpleclover at 12:10 PM on December 3, 2019 [2 favorites]


Mouse Guard is amazing, not sure how you feel about fantastical animal violence so preview.
posted by SaltySalticid at 12:12 PM on December 3, 2019


Aside from the some of the ones mentioned above - Dream Jumper and Anne Szabla's Bird Boy were hits with our kid. Drawn & Quarterly has lots of collections that'd work. As an example the Moomin Comic Strip collections, the Pippi Longstocking comics or the collections of Nancy and Little Lulu.
posted by Ashwagandha at 12:20 PM on December 3, 2019


My 16 yr old son was just saying yesterday that the How to Train Your Dragon series is a hidden gem. He didn't use the phrase "hidden gem." But it's definitely a series that he remembers liking a lot from when he was that age. The movies don't follow the plot of the books that closely, so don't be surprised by that.
posted by selfmedicating at 12:23 PM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


A few that my 8 year old has liked enough to read multiple times:

Akissi: Tales of Mischief [and its sequel]
Rollergirl
The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo
Ghosts
Brownstone’s Mythical Collection
posted by ryanshepard at 12:25 PM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


My kids really enjoyed the Science Comics series and Trickster: Native American Tales.
posted by belladonna at 12:26 PM on December 3, 2019


Rutabaga the Adventure Chef is in heavy rotation over here. Monster on the Hill is also pretty dope.
posted by furnace.heart at 1:05 PM on December 3, 2019 [2 favorites]


+1 for Amulet.

The author also curated the Flight Explorer series of anthologies for kids. (There are also Flight anthologie edited by him, but they have adult themes)
posted by itesser at 1:08 PM on December 3, 2019


Nimona
posted by bq at 2:00 PM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


Bone
posted by Redstart at 2:32 PM on December 3, 2019 [4 favorites]


My niece liked Lunch Lady books at that age. I liked them too because they made easy gift shopping. :)
posted by Sunburnt at 2:34 PM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


Anything by Art Balthazar. He does a whole bunch of all-ages comics. Tiny Titans is good but he has done books and graphic novels of most of the DC characters.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:49 PM on December 3, 2019 [2 favorites]


The Origami Yoda series by Tom Angleberger (he has other series, but I've not read them)
Regarding the Fountain and all of the sequels
posted by soelo at 2:58 PM on December 3, 2019


Squirrel Girl by Ryan North with art by Erika Henderson and then Derek Charm is so good and funny. There were no bad issues of that comic.
My (then 7 year old) nephew also liked Li'l Gotham, and the Dustin Nguyen art is fantastic.
Seconding Lumberjanes, Bone and Nimona.
posted by smartyboots at 4:09 PM on December 3, 2019 [4 favorites]


In the "chapter books with frequent pictures" department, the Two Dogs In a Trenchcoat series is a lot of silly fun.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 4:39 PM on December 3, 2019


Response by poster: Thanks everyone, will report back in a few weeks and check in for anything else to add to the hold list!
posted by typecloud at 4:49 PM on December 3, 2019


My kid loved the Secret Coders series. I think there's 6? of them?
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:06 PM on December 3, 2019 [4 favorites]


The 13-story treehouse (and sequels with 26, 39, 52,... stories).
posted by bfields at 6:17 PM on December 3, 2019


My 8 year old likes the graphic novels of the Wings of Fire series. There are 13 novels, but so far only 3 have been released in graphic form.
posted by terooot at 6:21 PM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


I’m loving these recommendations. My 6-year-old is a fan of the Mr. Wolf’s Class series (cute), Wayside School series (though I am surprised by some of the meanness in these books now as an adult), and the I Am series of illustrated kids biographies of heroes like Harriet Tubman, Neal Armstrong, Sacajawea, Martin Luther King Jr, Gandhi, Helen Keller, Marie Curie, etc. (these books are so fantastic and have been great for discussing hard social justice topics in this Trump-ean hellscape).

He also gets his graphic novel-esque fix from Pokémon encyclopedias, different themed Guinness World Records books, and garden seed catalogs (gotta study up on the best shelling pea varieties!).
posted by Maarika at 6:24 PM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


nuclear_soup and rabbitrabbit covered what I was going to recommend and then some!
posted by nickggully at 6:40 PM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


treehouse series
posted by aetg at 7:33 PM on December 3, 2019


My kid loves the Weirdo books (Australian) and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
posted by Jubey at 10:39 PM on December 3, 2019


Akissi is a delightful book and written from a different perspective than much of what your kids will be exposed to. Highly recommend (and read it yourself while you're at it!)

If your kid is into Greek mythology, my 9 and 6 year old have DEVOURED this series of graphic novels about the Greek Gods. Greek mythology, by its nature, comes with some content warnings but these books aren't terrible in that regard. Anyway, both kids have checked them out from the library by the fistful on multiple occasions.
posted by telepanda at 8:44 AM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Secret Coders was a hit after I read the first few pages aloud, waiting on availability of Book 2. I will definitely be referring back to this throughout the year!
posted by typecloud at 12:16 PM on December 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


Also, anything by Elise Gravel
posted by Maarika at 8:30 PM on December 11, 2019


Response by poster: Hilo and Rutabaga were also hits!
posted by typecloud at 7:02 AM on January 23, 2020 [2 favorites]


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