Selecting a list of graphic novels, comics and nonfiction books that we think all middle grade kids, tweens, and teens alike will love… well, that’s downright impossible. And yet, we have some confidence that in compiling this list of the best comics and graphic novels for children and teens of 2020, we have chosen at least one that your kid will enjoy.
Parents and educators used to discount comics as cheating. Though they thought visual art had value, and books for kids had value, they failed to see the value of words when combined with visual art once you got past the 1st-grade reading level. We are so glad that stigma is slowly but surely seeping away. Now, adults are allowed to wax poetic about Spider-Man, Watchmen, and Fun Home, and children are encouraged to check out books from entire corners of the library filled with graphic novels, graphic history books, graphic autobiographies, and whatever other genre might go nicely with panels of illustrations and a thought bubble or two.
That makes this job both easier and harder. There is so much to choose from, even just looking at the first half of 2020, that we can’t possibly call this an exhaustive list of all the best graphic novels for kids. We can tell you that this is a list of new graphic novels that includes some humor, both basic (see The Sewer Rat Stink) and angsty (Becoming Briana). There are middle-grade and YA fantasy books and novels with just a hint of magical realism. We’ve included new installments of popular graphic novel series (Phoebe and Her Unicorn: Camping With Unicorns) and a new graphic version of long-beloved middle grade series (Baby-sitters Little Sister: Karen’s Roller Skates). And it includes some voices we haven’t always heard much of in the kid-lit world: from gay Black superheroes to Somali refugees to aging witches. There’s a mystical tale of a Chicana rocker and a down-to-earth story of a blended family working the farmer’s market. There are true stories from modern times and almost-true stories from long ago.
There is a common thread going through all of these, whether they’re still under the radar or already popular graphic novels for kids: These stories bring children into new worlds and keep them turning those pages until the very end. That’s perhaps what today’s librarians and English teachers have learned that their predecessors didn’t notice. Having pictures doesn’t make these books any less worthy of our kids’ attention, it just makes them dive a little deeper into someone else’s imagination, if only for an afternoon.
Take a look at our list of the best graphic novels for kids of 2020 so far, and drop us a comment if there’s something great we’ve missed.
Our mission at SheKnows is to empower and inspire women, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
A version of this story was originally published in July 2020.
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‘Zaadii: The Legend of Z-Hawk’
Image Credit: Gail Simone / J. Calafiore. This comic book — and the character of Zaadii — was inspired by 3-year-old Zaadii Tozhon Tso, who was tragically killed by a distracted driver. Now, Zaadii’s legend lives on in his family and his fans — the fans of superhero Z-Hawk, that is, who is an environmental justice lawyer by day and a super-powered protector by night. Kids can read the book here, for free.
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‘The Sewer Rat Stink: A Geronimo Stilton Graphic Novel,’ by Tom Angleberger
Image Credit: Scholastic. All kids love a good tale of real-estate sabotage. Wait, that’s not right, sorry. All kids love a good game of “What’s that smell?” Here is an entire novel in which the titular mouse, an intrepid investigative journalist, looks into a rank odor taking over his town.
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‘Camping With Unicorns,’ by Dana Simpson
Image Credit: Andrews McMeel Publishing. This is the 11th book in the Phoebe and Her Unicorn series, but since this is the first time we’re doing this roundup, you’ll just have to go back and read your kids all 10 of the other books ASAP and then also this one. You will not regret entering into the charming friendship of a very regular girl who just happens to have a very immodest unicorn named Marigold Heavenly Nostrils as a best friend. In their latest installment, Phoebe and Marigold are about to spend the summer together, which promises to be both magical and very relatable.
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‘Yorick & Bones,’ by Jeremy Tankard & Hermione Tankard
Image Credit: HarperAlley. Will this book’s intended audience understand that the titular skeleton and his strange way with words are nods to Shakepeare’s Hamlet? We know not. But they will get that this is a hilarious story about how a dog and a reanimated skeleton can become the best of friends.
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‘Baby-Sitters Little Sister: Karen’s Roller Skates,’ by Katy Farina
Image Credit: Scholastic. Thanks to the Netflix series, we’re in the midst of a Baby-Sitters Club renaissance, and there’s no reason author Ann Martin’s Little Sister spinoffs should get left behind. With last year’s Karen’s Witch and this year’s Karen’s Roller Skates, a new generation gets to meet this imaginative, funny girl who is always up for an adventure.
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‘I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912,’ by Lauren Tarshis
Image Credit: Graphix. Historical fiction is one sneaky way of getting children to love history. Historical fiction graphic novels are by far sneakier — especially when, like this one, they weave in a young boy’s harrowing tale into one of the biggest man-made disaster stories of modern history. If your kids dig this, look into others in the I Survived series.
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‘Stepping Stones,’ by Lucy Knisley
Image Credit: Random House Graphic. When her mom decides to move out of the city and become a farmer with her boyfriend, Jen has to leave everything she loves and start a new life full of chores, chickens, and two new “sisters.” So much of a kid’s life is out of their control, and this novel reminds those reading that they’re not alone in that feeling.
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‘When Stars Are Scattered,’ by Victoria Jamieson & Omar Mohamed
Image Credit: Dial Books. With an assist from Jamieson and colorist Iman Geddy, Mohamed tells the true story of how he and his nonverbal brother, Hassan, made it from a Somali refugee camp in Kenya to Arizona. While it can be hard for both adults and kids to fathom the suffering of thousands, an individual story like this truly touches our hearts.
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‘Becoming Brianna,’ by Terri Libenson
Image Credit: Balzer + Bray. This is a literal coming-of-age graphic novel — as in the story of Brianna’s bat mitzvah. Even readers for whom this is an unfamiliar rite of passage, this is a funny take on the fact that just when kids feel their most awkward in front of a crowd, their parents ask them to speak in front of the biggest one yet, in a different language.
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‘Trespassers,’ by Breena Bard
Image Credit: Scholastic. Gabby and Paige are neighbors for the summer, semi-forced by their families to become friends. When they find common ground while writing the fictional story of a nearby mansion, and decide to investigate its real inhabitants, their friendship deepens just as the mystery does.
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‘Nat Enough,’ by Maria Scrivan
Image Credit: Scholastic. It’s OK not to be an athlete or a popular kid or a star in middle school, as long as you have your best friend by your side. But when Natalie’s best friend Lily grows distant, she has to figure out how be enough on her own.
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‘Snapdragon,’ by Kat Leyh
Image Credit: First Second. Snap doesn’t believe the town rumor that there’s an old witch named Jack who eats roadkill and casts spells with the animals’ bones. But when she winds up befriending Jack, she discovers she might be magical after all.
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‘Dragon Hoops,’ by Gene Luen Yang
Image Credit: First Second. Graphic novelist and computer-science teacher Yang admits he never liked sports. But then something special draws him to learn about his high school’s basketball team and the coach who leads them. They slowly become every bit as worthy of his storytelling skills as a team of superheroes. It’s a sports documentary and memoir, told in comic-book form for anyone who loves sports, as well as those who assume they don’t.
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‘Almost American Girl,’ by Robin Ha
Image Credit: Balzer + Bray At 14, Robin Ha left her home in Seoul, South Korea, on what she thought was a vacation with her mom to Huntsville, Ala. It turned out to be a permanent move, which was not exactly welcome news for Robin, who didn’t speak English and certainly didn’t feel like she fit in with anyone in her new home. Through art, she finds her place in the U.S., and we find her. This graphic memoir is sure to reach any tween or teen who has felt like a misfit — which is all of them, right?
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‘Suncatcher,’ by José Pimienta
Image Credit: Random House. Though many have tried, few have been able to capture the obsession with music that only a teenager can have. In this story, it is Beatriz’s grandfather who is captured and trapped inside his guitar, and his granddaughter can release him only by playing the perfect song on the instrument.
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‘Phantom Twin,’ by Lisa Brown
Image Credit: Macmillan. Jane and Isabel were conjoined twins in a carnival sideshow until the day a doctor offers to try to separate them. When Isabel awakes, she discovers Jane has died and in place of the arm and leg she is missing, she now has her dead sister’s ghost. After reading that premise, you know any young fan of eerie tales and supernatural phenomena won’t be able to resist finding out what happens next.
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‘You Brought Me the Ocean,’ by Alex Sanchez
Image Credit: DC Comics. This YA novel for older teens offers a sexy LGBTQ twist on the superhero origin story, illustrated by Julie Maroh who wrote Blue Is the Warmest Color. Since his father’s drowning death, Jake’s mother has feared letting her son near the water. But when he falls in love with swim team star Kenny Liu, Jake starts to discover that he has an affinity for the deep blue sea — which is a bit of an understatement considering that he is actually the DC superhero Aqualad.
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