Alli the Book Giraffe

Hello readers! Today I wanted to bring you a post about my favorite middle grade graphic novels. I have read so many good ones (and bad ones) and I thought I could tell you guys about some to celebrate Middle Grade March!

I have a pretty vast list here from contemporary to fantasy to nonfiction, so I hope you guys find something you like!

Would you guys like to see a list of ones at the top of my TBR? I know of so many more, but I haven’t read them yet.

Click follows a girl named Olive who isn’t picked by anyone, even her closest friends, to be a partner for the upcoming talent show.

She has this time over the weekend to really mull over what she wants to do with her life and her relationship with everyone she knows.

This is also the first book in a series, but I’ve only read book one. So far, there are 6 books in this series and I believe it is ongoing.

They Called Us Enemy is a true story by the actor George Takei, best known for playing Sulu in Star Trek.

This book follows the Takei family, made up of George, his younger brother, and parents during WWII in America. This was when internment camps were opened for Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Japanese people all over the country were taken from their homes and sent to these camps as they were considered ‘dangerous’.

This story is one that is swept under the rug in American history and needs to be known about more. This story is heartbreaking. I mean, sure they didn’t gas them like the Nazi’s did to Jewish people. BUT, they forced many people to give up their citizenship and sent them to Japan, even if they hadn’t been there before. They took them from their homes and forced them to sit and watch all their family back in Japan be brutally murdered by bombing. It was absolutely cruel and needs to be talked about more.

Smile is one that I have mentioned a few times on here. It follows the author as a kid. She was on the way home from a girl scouts meeting with a friend when she accidentally fell and knocked out her two front teeth.

She then spends nearly the next 10 years trying to fix her teeth. And, it’s the first book on the series.

Book two, Sisters, centers her and her sister while on vacation. And, book three, Guts, centers a time when Raina is diagnosed with IBS.

The Tea Dragon Festival is a three book series. They are sort of a mix of a graphic novel and a picture book.

It follows a girl named Greta who finds out all about these dragons, who grow leaves that can be made of tea. There is a little bit of a romance, and lot’s if representation within the series.

There is LGBT rep, including that of the author, disability rep including a wheelchair user and a deaf person. Just as a note, this author now goes by Kay O’neill, but you may see Kate O’neill on some of their books. It is the same person.

Lumberjanes follows five girls as a summer camp. It has plenty of normal camp stuff, but also has a mix of fantasy in there as well. We eventually even find out about a boy’s camp that is nearby.

The entire series is 20 books and is so fun to read. It reminds me a lot of cartoons I watched as a kid. I know Lumberjanes would make a really amazing cartoon for sure.

The thing that really brings this series to life is the characters. All five girls are very different and distinct from one another, and not only in ethnicity and sexuality. Their so fun to follow and I would absolutely read more if the authors ever decided to write more.

Yet another nonfiction. This one doesn’t seem like it is as the MC is a bunny.

Anyhow, this one follows Cece as a kid from before her hearing loss, to the many difficulties she faces as a deaf person. I recommend reading this just to see the hearing aid she had to wear that was almost as big as her entire body.

Hearing aids really have come so far in the past. My husband did a hearing test last year where he was diagnosed with mild hearing loss and I saw that people can now control their hearing aids with their phones.

Go With the Flow is a graphic novel centering periods. Once my daughter reaching that age, I definitely want her to read this one.

One of the girls in this book even has endometriosis. We need to normalize period talk and not make young girls think they are gross because their bodies are doing something completely natural.

The four girls in this book band together for better funding for feminine products at school. They don’t feel like they are prioritized enough as people who are not in sports.

And, I think this could also be a great read for people who do not have periods as it can teach them not to be insensitive jerks to those who do. Periods are an important topic for everyone!

Here is another one I have mentioned a lot, but I’m going to go ahead and mention it again. Measuring Up follows Cici, who has recently immigrated to America from Taiwan.

Her grandma’s 70th birthday is coming up soon and Cici wants to see her. It is honestly the cutest and most wholesome book I have ever read.

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