Graphic novels offer tremendous opportunities for building and practicing literacy skills. Gone (mostly) are the days when they were considered “not real books.” Are you using graphic novels to their full potential in your classroom? Lerner recently had the privilege of hosting a powerhouse panel of experts—Betsy Bird, Shveta Miller, Susannah Richards, and Ted Anderson—on this topic.
Head here to watch the webinar “Graphic Novels: Teaching Up to Their Potential.” You’ll also find recommended booklists, teaching guides, and robust additional resources.
Feeling inspired to incorporate more graphic novels into your library collection or classroom? Keep reading to preview the whole incredible lineup of fall releases from Graphic Universe and to take a look at spring graphic novels you might have missed!
Never Make a Giant Mad: Book 2
From the Series Felix and Calcite
By Artur Laperla
Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 3
Reading Level: Grade 2
Felix’s favorite toy, a robot dog, is lost in the land of the trolls. With a little help from an all-seeing troll witch, Felix and Calcite get close to finding it. That’s when they learn a big problem is standing in their way: Garganto, a giant who guards the path ahead. Garganto says no one gets through his gorge—even if Felix’s toy is on the other side. But he’s never met a duo like Felix and Calcite!
*Available October 4, 2022
Super Potato’s All-Night Dinosaur Fight: Book 9
From the Series Super Potato
By Artur Laperla
- Interest Level: Grade 2 – Grade 5
- Reading Level: Grade 2
Super Potato has defeated every enemy . . . but he usually gets a good night’s sleep between villains.
When sinister scientist Malicia the Malignant sends dozens of dinosaurs to fight him, the number of prehistoric pests keeps Super Potato awake for days. How do you thwart a T-Rex on 42 hours with no rest? Can our hero survive? He’s just one potato!
*Available August 2, 2022
The Wolf in Underpants Breaks Free
From the Series The Wolf in Underpants
By Wilfrid Lupano, illus. by Mayana Itoïz and Paul Cauuet
- Interest Level: Grade 2 – Grade 5
- Reading Level: Grade 2
The Wolf in Underpants is arrested for being a lazypants!
The Wolf helps out around the forest, but he doesn’t ask for coins in return. That makes some other animals suspicious. They say everyone has to work—and they toss the Wolf in prison! While the anti-wolf brigade questions the Wolf’s friends, the Wolf hatches a plan to break free. In the fourth tale of the Eisner-nominated Wolf in Underpants series, Wilfrid Lupano and Mayana Itoiz share a hilarious fable about the work in life that matters most.
*Available November 1, 2022
Timothy Dinoman Saves the Cat: Book 1
From the Series Timothy Dinoman
By Steve Thueson
- Interest Level: Grade 4 – Grade 8
- Reading Level: Grade 4
Timothy Dinoman is on the trail of a stolen satellite! To learn what these suspected supervillains want with outer-space tech, the world’s nicest iguanodon will visit a mountain fortress, a giant blimp, and a diner with excellent pancakes. On the way, he’ll even meet a really cute cat. Grab your rocket boots and your fake mustache—it’s time to crack the case with Timothy!
*Available October 4, 2022
A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return
Expanded Edition of the 2012 Batchelder Honor Book!
By Zeina Abirached
- Interest Level: Grade 7 – Grade 12
- Reading Level: Grade 7
This expanded edition of A Game for Swallows features a new, illustrated afterword, as Abirached reflects on the meaning of her memoir’s title, the graffiti that inspired it, and the future of Beirut.
The city of Beirut is cut in two, separated by bricks and sandbags and threatened by snipers and shelling. East Beirut is for Christians, and West Beirut is for Muslims. When Zeina’s parents don’t return one afternoon, the neighbors in her apartment house create a world indoors for Zeina and her brother, sharing cooking lessons, games, and gossip. Together they try to make it through the day in the one place they hoped would always be safe—home.
*Available August 2, 2022
By Sofia Szamosi
- Interest Level: Grade 9 – Grade 12
- Reading Level: Grade 7
Olive is spending the summer before art school at a coveted internship, helping one of the fashion industry’s elite digital-imaging specialists. After a glamourous New York photoshoot, she learns that taking pictures is only the first step. She discovers the “violent verbs” (cut, crop, slice, lasso) of image retouching software and the secrets behind “virtual models.”
Soon Olive is fixating on her own appearance and pondering the ethics of her work behind the scenes. As college gets closer, she’ll try to get out of her own head, attempt to quit the Internet, and finally embrace image-making on her own terms. Unretouchable is a window into the little-known, hugely influential world of fashion photography and a tribute to self-acceptance.
*Available September 13, 2022
By Tessa Brunton
- Interest Level: Grade 9 – Grade 12
- Reading Level: Grade 7
In 2009, Tessa Brunton experienced the first symptoms of myalgic encephalomyelitis (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome). She spent much of the next eight years unwell, in a medical holding pattern, housebound and often alone. In 2017, she found a strategy that helped reduce her symptoms, and soon began creating the first installments of a graphic memoir. Notes from a Sickbed collects previously released and brand-new, unseen comics that recall her experiences with honesty, a pointed wit, and a lively visual imagination.
*Available November 1, 2022
And in case you missed any of our Spring 2022 graphic novels, check them out below!
The Land of the Trolls: Book 1
From the Series Felix and Calcite
“[A] fun, fast read . . . The cartoonish style; eye-catching, bright color scheme; and inclusion of a maze and an eye-spy game (plus a promise that Felix will indeed return to visit his friend) will likely entice readers.”—School Library Journal
Super Potato and the Soaring Terror of the Pterosaur: Book 8
From the Series Super Potato
When Malicia the Malignant brings a prehistoric pterosaur back to life, it quickly flies away. Now, only Super Potato can drag the giant winged lizard down to earth!
From the Series A House Divided
“[E]asily shifts between perfectly timed humor, poignant dialogue, and action-packed battles. The inventive magical elements and splendidly atmospheric illustrations continue to delight and make this series a standout. . . . A satisfying finale to an inventive and absorbing series.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Simply powerful, Colombian artist Canizales’ illuminating, expressively rendered graphic novel translated from the Spanish contains moments of great beauty (particularly Andrea’s memories of her husband and father) among numerous scenes of deep anguish . . . A brutal, vital text.” —starred, Kirkus Reviews
“[D]elivers a surprising amount of information in an accessible, attractive package.” —Booklist for Incubators: A Graphic History
For a behind-the-scenes look at the Medical Breakthroughs series, read about designer Mary Ross’s experience in her post “When Comics and Science Intersect.”