Growing Reader
Tween
7 Graphic Novels Elementary Schoolers Love
by Janssen Bradshaw
When I was an elementary school librarian, graphic novels were one of my favorite tools for helping reluctant readers get excited about checking out a book.
They tend to be small and paperback and they can seem much less intimidating than a traditional novel. The illustrations help guide the story along and they are usually much less text-heavy.
And even great readers can benefit from the opportunity to use their brains in slightly different ways, piecing together the story through both words and images.
Plus, they’re just fun.
When I took over the library, there wasn’t a single graphic novel on the shelves, so I got to start a collection from scratch. Here are some of the ones that were most beloved among my 600 students. Best thing is, each book listed below begins a whole series, so once a kid gets hooked, there are many more adventures to be had!
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Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute
The Lunch Lady books were the first graphic novels I ever read, and I was instantly enamored. A mild-mannered meatloaf server by day, Lunch Lady uses all sorts of special modified kitchen gadgets to catch bad guys when she’s not on duty. The stories are funny and clever and the illustrations are done in black, white, and yellow, an eye-catching combo.
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Babymouse: Queen of the World!
Poor Babymouse. In her mind, she’s queen of the world with everything going her way. In real life, things aren’t quite so simple. These are the perfect introductory graphic novels for younger elementary school readers.
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Squish: Super Amoeba
Squish loves comic books, and inspired by his favorite hero, Squish is off to save the world from the forces of evil. Or so he thinks.
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Knights of the Lunch Table: The Dodgeball Chronicles
A fun spin on the legends of King Arthur, this excellent series follows Arti King as he begins life at Camelot Middle School where everything seems to be going wrong. When a local gang challenges him to a dodgeball match, Arti has to quickly find some new friends and maybe a little magic to help him beat the bullies.
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The Stonekeeper
While many of the books on this list deal with regular life, Emily and Navin’s story is anything but normal. After the death of their father, they are lured through a door in the basement by a beast who has kidnapped their mother. The siblings find themselves fighting to save her in a world they could never have imagined.
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Dragonbreath
It’s bad enough when you're a dragon who can’t breathe fire. It’s even worse when you get an F on your science paper. Danny Dragonbreath’s teacher tells him he has to redo the paper and so he and his friend Wendell head to sea to conduct research to see if they can earn an A this time around.
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Zita the Spacegirl
When you’re confronted with a mysterious device featuring a big red button, of course you’re going to push it. But when Zita does so, her best friend is abducted by an alien group and Zita is the only one who can save him.
