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Got kids?  Nieces? Nephews?  Students?  Or just love reading something fun and not too heavy-handed?  Here are some new titles you might enjoy!

(But first, the serious boilerplate:)

So, here’s what caught my eye.  Please comment below, and please feel free to mention titles I may have marginalized or overlooked.  My tastes are eclectic, but there’s stuff which doesn’t interest me, or doesn’t evoke much of a response.  I respect everyone who manages to publish something, but with some 400 graphic novel titles a month, I have to be selective.

CAVEAT:  As I discovered while doing the publisher posts, that some titles have been canceled or postponed.  The titles below, the information is subject to change.  Some may already be out and on sale, some may be vaporous.  Covers and text are supplied by the publishers.

Oh, and the advisory:  I am employed as a bookseller.  Nothing I say here or anywhere else online has any connection to my employer.  I know my employer can take umbrage at any association people may make between my private and professional activities, so I’m careful to let Lions Mane Jellyfish be.

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Betty & Veronica: Best Friends Forever

Dan Parent

Trade paperback, $9.99

9781879794764, 1879794764

Author Bio: Dan Parent (born 1964 in St. Albans, Vermont) is an American comic book artist and writer best known for his work for Archie Comics. A graduate of the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, Parent began working for Archie immediately after graduation. His writing of the Love Showdown series from 1994 received widespread attention. Parent has also illustrated Felix the Cat, Barbie, Disney Adventures, and a wide variety of other titles.

Summary: Betty & Veronica’s very first full-length graphic novel story is another major step forward for the Archie book line! A follow-up to the successful full color Betty & Veronica: Storybook graphic novel collection of fun fairy-tale sendups—Best Friends Forever should continue to gain ground with girls in bookstores and libraries.

Features an engaging story celebrating the power of friendship featuring the most famous BFFs in all of comics in an all-out reality show friendship competition!

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Hades: Lord of the Dead

George O’Connor

Hardcover, $16.99

9781596437616, 1596437618

Author Bio: GEORGE O’CONNOR is the author of several picture books, including the New York Times bestseller Kapow!, Kersplash, and Sally and the Some-thing. He has written and illustrated multiple graphic novels for First Second.  He is also a lifelong mythology buff.

Summary: Volume 4 of Olympians, Hades: Lord of the Dead, tells the story of the great God of the Underworld, and one of the most famous of all Greek myths: Hades’ abduction of Persephone, and her mother, Demeter’s, revenge.

In OLYMPIANS, O’Connor draws from primary documents to reconstruct and retell classic Greek myths. But these stories aren’t sedate, scholarly works. They’re action-packed, fast-paced, high-drama adventures with monsters, romance, and not a few huge explosions. O’Connor’s vibrant, kinetic art brings ancient tales to undeniable life, in a perfect fusion of super-hero aesthetics and ancient Greek mythology.

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Dance Class 1: So You Think You Can Hip-Hop

Béka, Crip

ISBN:    1-59707-254-0
ISBN 13:    978-1-59707-254-0
Trade Cloth, $9.99

In this new dance based series, Julie, Lucy and Alia are BFF’s who share one passion: dance! Between programs in ballet and modern dance, they also slip in classes on many other styles including hip-hop, a class run by the hunk KT, who’s got all three competing for his attention. As they prepare for the ballet “Sleeping Beauty,” they’d love to see him play Prince Charming. Any of the millions of girls with a love for dance and taking classes will find this new gag-filled series irresistible!

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Strawberry Shortcake: Pineapple Predicament and Other Stories

Georgia Ball, Tanya Roberts, Amy Mebberson
ISBN:    1-936340-57-7
ISBN 13:    978-1-936340-57-6
Trade Paper, $6.99

Returning to comics after 25 years! This digest edition collects stories from the hit comic including- “The Pineapple Predicament”, “The Sour Truth” and more!
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My Best Friend’s a Booger

Tyler Kirkham, Rian Kirkham, John Starr

ISBN:    1-926914-36-8
ISBN 13:    978-1-926914-36-7
Trade Paper, $6.95

Who would have ever thought you could have a booger as your best friend? Well, if your imagination is anything like Skyler Grayson”s, the possibilities are endless! At a time when Skyler is feeling really down and all alone, he finds his greatest friend in, you guessed it – a sneeze!

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How to Draw Your Own Graphic Novel

How to Draw Your Own Graphic Novel

by Frank Lee

Library Set ISBN: 9781448866021  $151.50

Library bindings: $25.25   Paperback bindings: $12.30

Readers who love to get sucked into the fantastic world of a really good graphic novel will be thrilled to learn they can actually create their very own. The many steps in creating a vibrant graphic novel are thoroughly explained in this wonderful series. Readers are introduced to the basics of graphic novels and the elements that go into making a great one from characters to plot to designing the perfect, eye-catching cover. Step-by-step instructions explain how to draw the most amazing hero and most evil villain. Wonderful explanatory illustrations accompany the text.
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Penciling, Inking, and Coloring Your Graphic Novel
ISBN:    1-4488-6435-6
ISBN 13:    978-1-4488-6435-5
Price:    $25.25
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Creating the Cover for Your Graphic Novel
ISBN:    1-4488-6457-7
ISBN 13:    978-1-4488-6457-7
Price:    $12.30
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Penciling, Inking, and Coloring Your Graphic Novel
ISBN:    1-4488-6455-0
ISBN 13:    978-1-4488-6455-3
Price:    $12.30
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Creating the Cover for Your Graphic Novel
ISBN:    1-4488-6436-4
ISBN 13:    978-1-4488-6436-2
Price:    $25.25
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Telling the Story in Your Graphic Novel
ISBN:    1-4488-6434-8
ISBN 13:    978-1-4488-6434-8
Price:    $25.25
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Drawing Action in Your Graphic Novel
ISBN:    1-4488-6477-1
ISBN 13:    978-1-4488-6477-5
Price:    $25.25
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Telling the Story in Your Graphic Novel
ISBN:    1-4488-6453-4
ISBN 13:    978-1-4488-6453-9
Price:    $12.30
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Drawing Action in Your Graphic Novel
ISBN:    1-4488-6451-8
ISBN 13:    978-1-4488-6451-5
Price:    $12.30
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Everyday Life in Ancient China

Kirsten C. Holm

Paperback Book  $10.60

ISBN: 978-1-4488-6395-2

Life in Ancient China was vastly different from life in the heavily-populated, industrialized China of today. Most of the people in Ancient China farmed and worked the land for food. This fascinating volume gives readers a glimpse into the daily activities of a farmer in Ancient China, while accessible language also supplies information about the government, education, technology, and culture of this rich civilization.

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Silver Dragon Presents: Tales of Adventure – Real Pirates

Joe Brusha

ISBN:    0-9830404-2-7
ISBN 13:    978-0-9830404-2-2
Trade Paper, $9.99

Far off lands, exotic and mysterious places, adventure on the high seas…these are things that capture the imagination, and are everyday occurrences in the life of a pirate. The first book in Silver Dragon”s Tales of Adventure series explores the exciting and danger-filled lives of the pirates that have sailed and terrorized the seven seas. Black Beard, Henry Morgan, and Captain Kidd are just a few of the real-life pirates that are featured in this groundbreaking, all-ages graphic novel.
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Richie Rich Digest, Volume 1

Buddy Scalera, Iwan Nazif

ISBN:    1-936340-58-5
ISBN 13:    978-1-936340-58-3

Trade Paper, $6.99

A mix of James Bond and Indiana Jones with the bank account of Donald Trump, Richie Rich is an altruistic adventurer who travels the world helping the less fortunate. After 20 years away from comics, Richie Rich returns with all new adventures!

WELCOME TO RICH RESCUE:
Richie arrives at the newly-constructed, cutting-edge tech RICH RESCUE operations building! After a brief tour with Professor Keenbean, a distress call sends the team into action!

THE BOON UNDER THE BAY:
After learning of a long lost pirate’s treasure buried deep beneath the waters of the pacific south coast, Richie and the gang investigate, only to learn that there are other interested parties privy to the prizes. Facing off with an enemy known as The Googol, as well as the villain’s army of modern day pirates (complete with a highly advanced octopus submarine that they can not only pilot, but use as a weapon), the team will have to retrieve the treasure and best the bad guys, all before they run out of oxygen!

OF DEMISE AND MEN (Sid Jacobson):
A classic adventure from Richie Rich creator Sid Jacobson! A day of excitement at the Funland Amusement Park takes a turn when Richie’s cousin Reggie is kidnapped! Can Richie and the gang thwart the kidnappers, or will these dastardly villains make off with a million dollars?

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Blackbeard: Legend of the Pyrate King

Blackbeard: Legend of the Pyrate King

Mario Guevara, Greg Hale, Jamie Nash, Eduardo Sanchez, Robert Place Napton

ISBN:    1-60690-083-8
ISBN 13:    978-1-60690-083-3

Trade Cloth, $29.99

Producers Eduardo (writer of The Blair Witch Project) Sanchez and Gregg (Producer of The Blair Witch Project) Hale are joined by Robert Napton and Jamie Nash to present the ultimate adventure tale of a bygone age, when pyrates ruled the waters! Beginning with his childhood through to his bitter end, Blackbeard’s legacy has never been explored as deeply and illustrated as beautifully by Mario Guevara than now!
Also contains biographical information on Blackbeard and a complete cover gallery.

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The Dare Detectives, Volume 1: The Snowpea Plot

The Dare Detectives, Volume 1: The Snowpea Plot

Ben Caldwell

ISBN:    1-936393-41-7
ISBN 13:    978-1-936393-41-1
Trade Cloth, $24.95

Reformed crook Maria Dare has assembled a team of misfits to crack the world’s weirdest cases! They have brains … they have guts … but they don’t have a clue! And in their first adventure. The Dare Detectives are finished! Rent’s due and their license is suspended, but Dare’s going-out-of-business festivities are interrupted by Madame Bleu – whose abominable snowmen pets are on a chef-stealing, radio-robbing, snowpea-swiping crime wave! Dare races against the clock to hunt down Madame Bleu with the help of corrupt cops and Chinatown’s old crime boss. But can these bunglers really prevent the most audacious – and inexplicably convoluted – crime of the century?
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Billy Fog Volume 1: The Gift of Trouble Sight

Billy Fog, Volume 1: The Gift of Trouble Sight

Guillaume Bianco
ISBN:    1-936393-39-5
ISBN 13:    978-1-936393-39-8
Trade Cloth, $24.95

Like some other kids his age, Billy Fog has to wear glasses. But Billy has the gift of Trouble Sight, so when he takes his glasses off, he sees all the things that other kids can’t—ghosts and ghouls, vampires and monsters, a world of darkness and danger and above all the thing that kids aren’t supposed to see: death. Is Trouble Sight a gift, then, or a curse? A new kind of graphic novel—part storybook, part fable, part gazetteer and bestiary of the horrible and fantastic, inspired by the likes of Tim Burton and Lemony Snicket.

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Spera, Volume 1

Spera, Volume 1

Josh Tierney, Kyla Vanderklugt, Hwei Lin Lim, Emily Carroll, Olivier Pichard, Afu Chan

ISBN:    1-936393-30-1
ISBN 13:    978-1-936393-30-5
Trade Cloth, $19.95

Lono’s life as a princess consisted of sitting, reading, and dreaming—until the day Pira, princess of a neighboring kingdom, arrived with news of a waking nightmare! With the help of Pira’s best friend—a fire spirit in the form of a dog named Yonder—the princesses now find themselves in a race against evil. The goal: Spera, a magical realm of which the princesses had only ever heard the tallest tales. The prize: their very lives!
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Fraggle Rock Classics Volume 1

Fraggle Rock Classics, Volume 1

Stan Kay, Marie Severin, Jake Myler, Rebecca Taylor

ISBN:    1-936393-22-0
ISBN 13:    978-1-936393-22-0
Trade Paper, $9.95

Archaia Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company are proud to present a new reprinting of the original Fraggle Rock comic book series, which first debuted in 1985. Look back into the history of your favorite Fraggles with stories such as “The Magic Time Machine,” “The Trouble With Being #1,” “The Monster That Could Be Anything” and “The Doozer Who Wanted to Be a Fraggle.” Digitally remastered and beautifully bound in softcover for a new generation of Fraggle Rock fans, this series will make you want to dance your cares away—’80s style!
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The Dark Crystal

The Dark Crystal

Brian Holguin, Alex Sheikman, Brian Froud,Lisa Henson

ISBN:    1-936393-00-X
ISBN 13:    978-1-936393-00-8
Trade Cloth, $19.95

Part one of a three-part graphic novel series delving into the origins of the Skeksis, Mystics, Gelflings, the world of Thra and the Dark Crystal itself. Spanning a time period from thousands of years ago to right up to the start of the original film, this graphic novel epic will tell the definitive origin of Dark Crystal, under the supervision of The Jim Henson Company and The Dark Crystal concept designer Brian Froud.

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Treasure Chest

Treasure Chest

ISBN:    1-4507-2379-9
ISBN 13:    978-1-4507-2379-4
Trade Paper, $15.99

Bluewater brings back the classic comic book series that started in 1946. Its inspirational stories of sports and folk heroes, saints, school kids, history, science and similar topics were drawn by artists that included such prominent figures as EC’s Reed Crandall, Graham Ingels and Joe Orlando, Marvel Comics’ Joe Sinnott, and DC Comics’ Murphy Anderson and Jim Mooney. Other features included literary adaptations and such typical comics fare as funny animal humor strips.

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The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Fishy Business

The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Fishy Business

Maxwell Eaton

978-0-375-86448-3  , Trade Paperback, $6.99

978-0-375-96448-0  Library Binding, $12.99

The Flying Beaver Brothers are back, and this time they’re hot on the trail of another eco-villain: Fish Stix  Environmental Manufacturing. When Fish Stix sets up shop, most of the islanders are thrilled. After all, Fish Stix are the most popular, best-selling sticks around AND they’re good for the environment! But this eco-friendly facade is just a cover for a nefarious plot involving dirty money, fish who walk on dry land, and a great big smoking volcano. It’s up to the dauntless beaver brothers to set things right—and they better do it fast or the island’s forests are history! Now if only Bub can stop napping and they can all make enough pancakes to save the day. . . .

This second installment to Max Eaton’s new graphic series ups the ante in terms of both action and humor. The Flying Beaver Brothers are poised to take off as beloved comicbook heros.

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Ralph Filmore: Paranormal Investigator

Ralph Filmore: Paranormal Investigator

Roger Raymond, Darryl Savoy, Roger Raymond, Pedro Delgado, Javier Tartaglia, Sean Patrick O’Reilly

ISBN:    1-926914-31-7
ISBN 13:    978-1-926914-31-2
Trade Paper, $14.95

Vampires, Aliens, Ghosts and Zombies… BEWARE! There’s a new hero in town and his name is Ralph Filmore! Ralph Filmore is just your average, everyday 13-year-old Paranormal Investigator. He may be the youngest, and possibly the world’s greatest paranormal private eye. Ralph hunts down and challenges all things strange and bizarre on a daily basis. He unwittingly solves “out of this world” mysteries (literally). But he’s still the shortest kid in the 8th grade, still gets picked on by bullies, and still has to be in bed by 9 PM. More often than not, Ralph’s serious obsession for paranormal phenomena gets him into heaps of trouble. With his best friends and partners in slime, Booker and Tav, his trusty robotic supercomputer Z, and his ghostly canine companion Specter, Ralph protects the people of Earth from extraterrestrial and supernatural threats.

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How the Elephant Got His Trunk

How the Elephant Got His Trunk: The Graphic Novel

Rudyard Kipling, Pedro Rodríguez, B. A. Hoena

ISBN:    1-4342-3880-6
ISBN 13:    978-1-4342-3880-1

Trade Paper, $4.95

In this retelling of Rudyard Kipling’s classic tale, a curious young elephant tries to find out what the crocodile eats for dinner. He ends up with a whole new look.

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First Base Blues

First Base Blues

Anita Yasuda, Steve Harpster

ISBN:    1-4342-3863-6
ISBN 13:    978-1-4342-3863-4

Trade Paper, $5.95

Nico wants to be shortstop on his baseball team. So when he is placed at first base, he is disappointed. Will Nico be the best first baseman he can be or will he let his team down?
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1 COMMENT

  1. Wow, that’s a load of stuff my fiancee would be interested in. She’s going to be an elementary school teacher, and wanted to incorporate comics into the class library.

    Also, there’s just something about one of the Zenescope guys doing an all ages book that is delightfully warped. But good on him!

  2. What? No POLLY & THE PIRATES vol. 2? Ted Naifeh and Robbi Rodriguez are awesome. You are sentenced to walk the plank, reporter!

  3. Zenescope started the Silver Dragon imprint for young readers in 2010.

    http://www.silverdragonbooks.com/index.php?l=page_view&p=news

    One of their FCBD issues last year showcased the Discovery Channel titles. (Sharks! Dinosaurs!)

    Lerner has a good line of graphic novels (including a “choose your own adventure” line!) Toon Books, via Candlewick, specializes in beginning reader titles.

    (I’m working on a “what I saw” post from the recent American Library Association conference. Lots of kids comics!)

  4. Billy Fog and Spera are both better suited for tweens and older, not for younger readers – they’re both excellent books, but younger kids who are easily scared should not read Billy Fog (they’ll be crying for days after, and probably scared to sleep, too). On the other hand, younger kids who have a sort of ghoulish sense of humor will really enjoy it.
    Capstone/Stone Arch’s Graphic Revolve line has been publishing some interesting graphic adaptations of fairy and folk tales; this season, the Kipling Just-So Stories are being adapted, so there are 6 of them, all with uniform covers.

  5. Thanks, Kat!

    That, folks, is why you need libraries and librarians! Let them know what you like, what you need, and they’ll recommend all sorts of stuff! (And advise you if something you picked might not be quite what you want.)