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G. Neri's
Reading List
Here's my
evergrowing list of favorite young
adult and middle
grade books for boys
plus my list of graphic
novels for all ages. If you have a favorite that
you think
belongs here, let me know.
Books
for Young Adult Boys
Books for Middle
Grade Boys
Graphic
Novels and comic strip stories:
A=adult
YA=teen YA–A=teen with adult
content MG=middle grade
E=Elementary
- The Adventures of Polo by Regis
Faller (surreal adventure) E
- The
Adventures of Sparrow Boy by Brian Pinkney
(adventure) E
– MG
- Abandon the Old in Tokyo by
Yoshiro Tatsumi (life in Japan) A
- Alia’s
Mission
by Mark Alan Stamaty
(Iraqi war) MG
- Amelia's Notebook series by Marissa Moss (girl's journal) E-MG
- American Born Chinese by Gene Yang
(racism) MG
- American
Spendor by Harvey Pekar (everyday life) A
- Arab in America by Toufic El Rassi (being Arab after 2001) YA
- The Arrival by Shaun Tan (immigration, fish out of water) MG-A
- Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie (teen pregnancy, Africa) YA-A
- Berlin:
City of Stone,
Book one by Jason Lutes (German history, pre WW2) YA-A
- Black
Hole by Charles Burns (teenage sex and disease) YA-A
- Blankets
by Craig Thompson (first love) YA
- Blindspot by Kevin C. Pyle (coming
of age) MG-YA
- Blue Pill by Frederick Peeters (HIV love story) A
- The
Bear by Raymond Briggs (imagination) E
- The Boy, The Bear, The Baron, The Bard
by Gregory Rogers (Shakespeare) E
- Buddha vol 1-8 by Osamu Tezuka (life of Siddartha) A
- Bumperboy & the Loud Loud Mountain
by Debbie Huey E-MG
- Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle (life under dictator) A
- Capacity by Theo Ellsworth (the imagination of the mind) A
- Capote
in Kansas
by Ande Parks
(non-fiction event, writing) A
- Carnet
de Voyage by Craig Thompson (European travelogue) YA
- Chicken with Plums by Marjane
Satrapi (Life in Iran) YA-A
- Chiggers by Hope Larson (life at camp, summer love) MG-YA
- City
of Glass
by Paul Auster (adapted
novel) A
- Clumsy by Jeffrey Brown (doomed
relationship) A
- The Contract with God Trilogy by Will Eisner (God, life) A
- Diary of a Whimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (diaries) MG-YA
- Deogratias:
A Tale of Rwanda by Stassen
(mostly for production) YA-A
- A Drifting Life by Yoshiro Tatsumi (birth of manga) A
- Ellie McDoodle by Ruth McNally
Barshaw (family) MG
- Epileptic
by David B. (epilepsy) YA
- Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan
(Terrorist bombings) A
- Gemma
Bovary by Posy Simmonds
(love, suicide) A
- Ghost
World by Daniel Clowes
(teenage slice of life) YA–A
- Embroideries
by Marjane Satrapi (Love and marriage) A
- Ethel
and Ernest by Raymond Briggs (love and marriage)
- Fun
Home by Alison Bechdel (estranged father, gay issues) YA-A
- Gentleman Jim by Raymond Briggs (growing old, lost dreams) A
- The
Golem’s Mighty Swing by James Sturm (racism,
baseball, period piece) YA
- Hard
Boiled Defective Stories by Charles Burns (Sci-fi dark humor)
A
- Houdini: the Handcuff King by
Jason Lutes (biography) E-A
- Incognegro by Mat Johnson (racism, lynchings) YA-A
- In
the Shadow of No Towers by Art Speigelman
(WTC attack) YA–A
- It’s
a Good Life if you don’t Weaken by Seth
(Cartooning) A
- Jellaby by Kean Soo (love) MG
- Kampung Boy by Lat (growing up
Muslum in Southeast Asia) E-MG
- King
by Ho Che Anderson (MLK
biography) A
- Kings
in Disguise by James Vance/Dan Burr (hobos in Depression era)
YA-A
- Klezmer by Joann Sfar (Jewish folk
music adventure) YA-A
- Knockout
by MD Kenny (Boxing) A
- Laika by Nick Abadsiz (Soviet Space Program) YA
- La
Perdida
by Jessica Abel (Mexico,
kidnapping) A
- Last Day in Vietnam by Will Eisner (war) YA-A
- Latino
USA:
a cartoon History by Ilan
Stavans (Hispanic hostory)
YA
- The Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood
of Korea by Anne Sibley O'Brien (Korean folklore) E
- Life, in Pictures by Will Eisner (Jewish life in America) A
- Life Sucks by Jessica Abel, Warren Pleece (Teen vampires at mini mart) YA-A
- Little
Lit by Art Speigelman
(fairy tales) E-MG
- Little Vampire series by Joann
Sfar (lonliness, outsider) E-MG
- Louis
Riel: a comic strip biography by Chester Brown (biography) A
- Love
& Rockets: Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez (mexican Americans, bi-sexuality,
punks) A
- Malcolm X by Andrew Helfer and
Randy DuBurke (biography) YA-A
- Maus
1 and 2 by Art Speigelman
(Holocaust, racism) YA–A
- Meanwhile
by Jules Feiffer (adventure) E, MG
- Mom's Cancer by Brian Fies
(disease) YA-A
- Night
Fisher by R. Kikuo
Johnson (drugs, Hawaii)
YA
- Notes for a War Story by Gipi (war, survival) YA-A
- The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation
by Sid Jacobson (terrorism) YA-A
- Our
Cancer Year , The
Quitter by Harvey Pekar
(cancer, adult life) A
- Palestine
by Joe Sacco (war
journalism) YA - A
- People's History of American Empire by Howard Zinn (War, US policy) YA-A
- Pedro
and Me: Friendship, Loss and What I Learned by Judd Winick (AIDS) YA
- Persepolis
1 and 2 by Marjane
Satrapi
(growing up in Iran)
YA
- The Plain Janes by
Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg (art terrorism) YA
- The
Push Man by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
(Japan’s
lower class) A
- Pyongyang:
A Journey in North
Korea
by Guy Delisle YA-A
- R.
Crumb Draws the Blues by R. Crumb (history, music) A
- Road
to Perdition by Max Allen Collins (revenge, period piece) A
- Safe
Area: Gorazde
by Joe Sacco (war
journalism) YA - A
- Shenzhen by Guy Delisle (Foreigner in Modern China) YA-A
- Siberia by Nikoli Mazlov (Life in Russia) YA-A
- Sleepwalk,
Summer
Blond by Adrien
Tomine
(loneliness, relationships) YA-A
- Strum
and Drang: Great
Moments in Rock n’ Roll by Joel Orff (teenage slice of life,
music) YA
- Stuck
Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse (racism, segregation,
homosexuality) A
- The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar
(Jewish issues, racism) YA-A
- Satchel Page: Striking Out Jim Crow by James Strum and Rich Tommaso (racism, baseball) MG-YA
- The Savage by David Almond (death, bully) YA-A
- The Sea View Hotel by James
Stevenson (lonliness) E
- Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine (relationships) A
- Skim by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki (suicide) YA-A
- Slow Storm by Danica Novgorodoff (murder, fires) A
- Stop Forgetting to Remember by Peter Kuper (memoir, growing older) A
- The
Summer of Love by Debbie Drechsler
(first love) YA-A
- The
Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot (incest, homelessness)
YA-A
- There's a Wolf at the Door by Zoe and R.W. Alley (fairy tales) E
- Tintin by Herge (world adventures) MG
- Tommysaurus
Rex by Doug TenNapel
(Death, bullys) MG
- To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel
by Siena Cherson Siegel (dance) E-MG
- Too Many Time Machines by Mark
Stamaty (history, baseball) E
- Town Boy by LAT (growing up in Malaysia) E - MG
- Tuesday
by David Wiesner
(Alternate reality) E- MG
- Unstable
Molecules by James Sturm (real life bios of Fantastic 4) YA
- Vampire Loves by Joann Sfar
(loneliness) YA-A
- The Wall by Peter Sis (Communism) E-YA
- War’s
End by Joe Sacco
(War and Peace) YA-A
- Was She Pretty? by Leanne Shapton
(lost love) A
- When
the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs (nuclear holocaust) YA-A
- We
Are on our Own by Miriam Katin
(Hungarian girl escapes Nazis) YA-A
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