{"id":22220,"date":"2017-07-18T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=22220"},"modified":"2017-07-18T08:00:30","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T12:00:30","slug":"graphic-novel-palooza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=22220","title":{"rendered":"Graphic Novel Palooza"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fastest-growing, fastest-selling section of our store over the past year has been graphic novels for younger readers. Long ago, it outgrew its shelves and graduated to a full wall case. Truth be told, we need a bigger wall case for middle grade graphic novels. Here are a few recent and upcoming titles the kids in our region are excited about:
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\nThe Adventures of John Blake: Mystery of the Ghost<\/strong><\/em> Ship<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Philip Pullman and Fred Fordham (Graphix; out now) The marketing materials say 8-12, but\u00a0I\u00a0think\u00a010-13 is the sweet spot for this spooky\/dark action adventure tale from Philip Pullman.
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\nLegions of\u00a0Awkward \u00a0<\/em>fans were delighted to see an addition to\u00a0this series, an\u00a0anthem to middle school angst.\u00a0Brave<\/strong> by Svetlana Chmakova (Yen Press; out now).
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\nDog Man 3: A Tale of Two Kittens\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>by Dav Pilkey (Graphix; Aug. 29) Can’t go wrong with the irrepressible Pilkey’s exuberant creations. We’ve already got 8-year-olds placing pre-orders.
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\nAll’s Faire in Middle School<\/strong><\/em> by Victoria Jamieson (Dial, Sept. 5) — By the author of the wildly popular Roller Girl<\/em>, this is a perfectly timed release to maximize reader excitement and suit its topic. We can’t wait to start handing this to kids!
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\nThe Golden Compass Graphic Novel, Complete Edition<\/strong><\/em> by Philip Pullman (Knopf; Sept. 5) \u2014 September 5 is a banner day for graphic novels! Here’s the complete Golden Compass<\/em> graphic novel, in one volume.
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\nAnd you thought\u00a0Sept. 5 couldn’t get any better!\u00a0Here comes one of our all-time favorites, Ben Hatke, with\u00a0Mighty Jack 2: Mighty Jack and the Goblin King<\/strong><\/em> (First Second, Sept. 5)<\/span>
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\nOh, Sept. 5, we will need a shelf just for you! Here come Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider titles, Eagle Strike<\/strong><\/em> and Scorpia<\/strong><\/em>, in graphic novel format (Candlewick Press, Sept. 5).
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\nSwing It, Sunny!<\/strong><\/em> by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Graphix, Sept. 12) \u2014 Loved loved loved Sunny Side Up<\/em> and have been gratified that contemporary kids also love a book set during my own childhood \u2014 which sort of makes this historical fiction\u00a0(!). Now Sunny is home and heading to middle school.
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\n<\/em>Another\u00a0fun addition to the perennially popular series!\u00a0The Babysitters Club: Dawn and the Impossible Three<\/strong><\/em>, based on the novel by Ann M. Martin, illus. by Gale Gilligan (Graphix, Sept. 26)
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\nSecret Coders 4: Robots & Repeats<\/strong><\/em> by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes (First Second, Oct. 3)
\nCoding + Gene Luen Yang? Should be a blockbuster, but I want this series to do better in our market! I think it would fly out of the store in full color; it’s gotten harder to interest kids in two-color graphic novels.
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\nI confess that I really need to read the first Dream Jumper<\/em>, because it looks so good! Kids in the know will be excited\u00a0for Dream Jumper Book 2: Curse of the Harvester<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0by Greg Grunberg\u00a0and Lucas Turnbloom (Graphix, Oct. 31)
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\nDog Man 4: Dog Man and Cat Kid<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0by Dav Pilkey (Graphix, Dec. 26) Why\u00a0the 26th, Scholastic, why?? I’m grumpy I can’t sell\u00a0this for Chanukah and Christmas presents, but the gift card-receiving kids will be happy to have something new\u00a0and enticing on the shelves after the holidays. Legions of youngsters will be\u00a0psyched for this one.
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\nWings of Fire Graphic Novel #1: The Dragonet Prophecy <\/strong><\/em>by Tui Sutherland and Mike Holmes\u00a0(Graphix, Jan. 2, 2018) Already a popular series in novel format,\u00a0this is poised to do beautifully as a graphic novel.
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\n<\/strong><\/em>Hilo 4: Waking the Monsters<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0by Judd Winick (Random House, Jan. 16, 2018) All you have to do is tell kids Hilo<\/em> is about an alien kid who crashes to earth wearing only a pair of silver underpants, and they’re in. I wish this one were coming out in time for the holidays, but it’s good to look forward to something lively in cold cold January.
\nIt’s 8 am, so I have to stop. What fall releases have I missed, oh good people?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MG comics that should be flying off our shelves this fall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}