Graphic novel recommendation for 11 year old?

December 3, 2019 5:45 PM

What's a great graphic novel to give a smart fifth grade girl for Christmas? She looooves El Deafo and isn't that into sci fi or fantasy. I saw this askme from 2 years ago, newer recommendations are appreciated!
posted by JamesD to Writing & Language (11 answers total)

Best answer: I read Sincerely, Harriet by Sarah Winifred Searle recently and really liked it.
posted by darchildre at 5:55 PM on December 3, 2019

Best answer: Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel - I never read the actual book but remember watching the TV series when I was a kid and also seeing a play version of it. I borrowed a copy from the library for my daughter to read and figured I'd take a look at it first and ended up plowing through the whole thing in one sitting because it was really good.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:59 PM on December 3, 2019

Best answer: Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi
posted by nickggully at 6:38 PM on December 3, 2019 [4 favorites]

Best answer: My daughter loved El Deafo and also really enjoyed pretty much everything by Raina Telgemeier.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 6:39 PM on December 3, 2019 [8 favorites]

Best answer: Roller Girl is pretty awesome, as is All's Faire in Middle School, both by Victoria Jamieson.
posted by gideonfrog at 6:45 PM on December 3, 2019 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Seconding the Raina Telegemeier recommendation - my 11yo devoured her books. She also enjoyed the Babysitter’s Club adaptations (wishing I hadn’t gotten rid of all my originals - I’d figured they’d be too dated)
posted by melissa at 6:56 PM on December 3, 2019 [2 favorites]

Best answer: From 2019, you might consider Dylan Meconis's Queen of the Sea (Goodreads), a pseudo-historical story and an Amazon choice for best YA of 2019 rated for ages ~10-14 though a bit long and twisty, or Akiko Higashimura's Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist’s Journey (Goodreads), an autobiographical story and an NYPL choice for best YA of 2019 rated more often for 12 and up.
posted by Wobbuffet at 7:01 PM on December 3, 2019

Best answer: People I know who can’t stop reading Raina Telgemeier, Victoria Jamieson, and the Babysitters Club graphic novels (by which I mean my eleven-year-old) also read the heck out of Jennifer Holm’s “Sunny” series, a really nicely done graphic-novel memoir which also has the benefit of evoking vivid memories of ‘70s pop culture in any gen-X adult who looks through them.
posted by sesquipedalia at 7:23 PM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Is Lumberjanes on that previous ask? If not: LUMBERJANES!
posted by lizifer at 5:16 AM on December 4, 2019 [3 favorites]

Best answer: <3 this question

Real Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham, Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol, Sanity & Tallulah by Molly Brooks, any of the Awkward, Brave, Crush series by Svetlana Chmakova, This Was Our Pact by Ryan Andrews, The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang, Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell, The Dragon Slayer: Folktales from Latin America by Jaime Hernandez, Dinosaur Empire! by Abby Howard (really funny nonfiction), The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series by Ryan North, New Kid by Jerry Craft, Nimona by Noelle Stevenson, books by Faith Erin Hicks, American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, and the Bone series by Jeff Smith.

Not graphic novels, but GN influenced/GN style: Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai, the Hamster Princess series by Ursula Vernon (one of the best webcartoonists out there, about a cliff-diving, hilarious Harriet), the Horrible Histories series by Terry Deary & Martin Brown (UK),
posted by Geameade at 6:41 AM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

I just started reading Sheets by Brenna Thummler with my 11 year-old. Not sure if it is going to be too much fantasy, since it does involve a ghost, but the main (living) character is a girl in a very grounded world. Again, I haven't finished it, but it looks really good so far.
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 4:52 PM on December 4, 2019