New Books Highlight: Graphic Novels

Friday is the day for new books! What’s shiny and unread on the Shorewood Library shelves this week? Graphic novels!

Cardboard written and illustrated by Doug TenNapel

In this stand-alone graphic novel, Doug TenNapel (author of other great  graphics including Bad Island and Ghostopolis) tells us the story of Cam and his hard-up and out-of-work dad who tries to create a little magic for Cam on his birthday. Cam’s dad builds a cardboard creature that comes to life, with somewhat disastrous consequences for the entire town once bad-boy neighbor Marcus gets his wily hands on it. If you like stories involving a little adventure, a little fantasy, and a little world-saving, and stories of off-kilter villains and humble heroes, you’ll love this one.

Broxo written and illustrated by Zack Giallongo

Fantasy meets zombie invasion meets graphic novel in this unique adventure story. If you are a fan of fantasy and/or zombie fic, but not yet on board with graphic novels, start with Broxo. The title character, Broxo, is the last surviving member of a band of barbarians who spends his time avoiding the walking dead that periodically try to share his deserted mountaintop with him. When a princess comes along, she and Broxo team-up to defeat the zombie-like creatures and try to unravel the mystery of Broxo’s lost band of warriors. A fun read!

Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel adapted and illustrated by Hope Larson

Hope Larson re-imagines A Wrinkle in Time visually, creating the world of Meg Murry we have all only seen in our imaginations. If you haven’t read A Wrinkle in Time in a while, pick this up for a really great reminder, and to discover new things about the story, too. (That said, if you’ve never read A Wrinkle in Time start with the non-graphic novel version…)

Manga Drawing Contest

The Milwaukee Public Library is having a Manga Drawing Contest!  Any teen living in Milwaukee County is welcome to show off their skills.  There are great gift card prizes; deadline is October 24th so get drawing!

Check out the winners from last year to get inspired.

New Manga Titles

We’ve added a few new manga titles to our graphic novel collection!

Rosario + Vampire – No matter what he does, Tsukune can’t get into any high school…except for one. But on his first day he finds the rest of the student body isn’t exactly normal. Does he have any chance of raising his grades at a school where the turf war isn’t between jocks and nerds but vampires and werewolves?

Negima! – Ten-year-old prodigy Negi Springfield, has just graduated from magic academy. He dreams of becoming a master wizard but instead is sent to Japan to teach English . . . at an all-girls high school! All the students are delighted with their cute new teacher—except for Asuna, who resents Negi for replacing the teacher she secretly has a crush on. And when Asuna discovers Negi’s secret, she vows to make his life as difficult as possible— just the thing to prepare Negi for the challenges of life as a master wizard!

Aria – One-hundred and fifty years after its terraforming, Aqua, the planet formerly known as Mars, is now almost completely covered in water. A young girl named Akari Mizunashi lives in the city of Neo-Venezia, an exact replica of the old Italian city of Venice, where she works as a gondolier tour guide. While giving people tours of her beautiful city, Akari learns to appreciate her city when she helps an elderly tourist find his daughter, teaches a friend some history about ancient Venice and discovers the secret behind Aqua’s unusual sun showers.

High School Debut - Up until now, Haruna Nagashima’s life consisted of playing softball and reading comics. But now that she’s going to high school, Haruna decides to put all of her energy towards getting a boyfriend and having the high school romance of a lifetime! To help in her quest, she enlists cute upperclassman Yo Komiyama to coach her as she forgets her jock past and turns herself into the kind of girl who can catch a guy. Yo agrees, with one catch: Haruna had better not fall for him!

Other New Titles:
Nabari No Ou
Skip Beat
Case Closed
D. Gray-Man