At our house, once we find an author we like, we tend to read several of their books. My kids are still pretty reluctant to read on their own, but they are starting to enjoy graphic novels and gaining more confidence in reading them by themselves.
Here are a few of our favourite graphic novel authors and the books we love!
Raina Telgemeier
As someone who wore braces and headgear while in elementary school, I loved Raina Telgemeier’s book Smile. Raina shares her experiences with her teeth and braces after having her teeth knocked out during a fall. My boys and I recently read Ghosts and while the book is about a different family, I loved it just as much.
Raina’s stories are relatable and realistic. It’s easy to put yourself into the story because the characters she writes about deal with the same kinds of things all kids deal with: sibling rivalry, growing up, being in a new city, and dealing with bullies.
The illustrations are bright and colourful, acting as a great addition to the story. My boys are able to use the illustrations as a way to help decode the story and read it on their own when I’m not able to read with them.
Dav Pilkey
Where Raina Telgemeier’s books are realistic, the creator of Dog Man and Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey’s books are just plain silly, and that’s why my boys love them. These two series show how anyone can be a superhero and sometimes the superheroes aren’t so super!
Even though the characters have outrageous things happen to them in order to gain their super powers, the heroes are flawed and that makes them totally relatable. The stories are also told as if they are written by class clown characters George and Harold. This is a great way of demonstrating to kids they can do anything they set their minds to.
Aaron Blabey
Aaron Blabey’s Bad Guys series was recommended to me by a bookstore owner as being great for kids who don’t like to read. She was right! It’s about all these “bad” animal characters (wolf, shark, piranha, snake) trying to do good.
It’s another silly series with lots of laugh out loud moments. I also love how the illustrations are incorporated into the story. This isn’t your typical graphic novel that’s set up like a long comic strip. All the illustrations are black and white and many times there aren’t any dialogue bubbles, but it’s still easy to tell who’s talking. The text of the story often melds into the illustration. Genius!
Ashley Spires
We first discovered Ashley Spires through her inspiring picture books. As my kids got older, we started reading the Binky the Space Cat series, and it’s still a favourite. These books are great for reluctant readers, because at about 60 pages, they’re shorter than most graphic novels.
The Binky series is relatable as well because Binky is a cat who wants to protect his humans. Of course, Binky is a bit delusional, and this adds some great humorous moments to the stories.
Matthew Cody
My kids have been reading a lot of books on the Epic app lately, and this is where they discovered Matthew Cody’s Cat Ninja series. You can find book one on Amazon, but if you have Epic, there are many more books and other series by Matthew offered on the app.
The classic combination of humour and heroics is what sold my kids. There are some hilarious animals in here (Master Hamster is my fave!) doing good to protect their humans and the world around them. I was happy to see my boys binge these books on Epic!
Doug TenNaple
Cardboard by Doug TenNaple was one of the first graphic novels my oldest son brought home from his school’s library. Doug has a unique illustration style that feels suspenseful, and in Cardboard, a cardboard creation magically comes to life.
The cardboard has the ability to project the thoughts and desires of its users. Of course, trouble ensues when the neighbourhood bully uses it to create his own army. My kids couldn’t wait to see what happened next!
I hope you will check out some of our favourite graphic novels. We are always looking for book recommendations and would love to hear about some of your favourites. Please share them in the comments below.
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