New Graphic Novels

Thor: The Mighty Avenger
By Roger Langridge

Presents Thor's arrival on Earth and how he fights evil villains.








Usagi Yojimbo: The Brink of Life and Death
By Stan Sakai

While journeying over mountains, into valleys, through towns and farmlands, and along rugged coasts searching for harmony, rabbit ronin Usagi faces a unique cast of characters. More than once Usagi finds himself in great danger, but it's all in a day's work.





Excalibur: The Legend of King Arthur
By Tony Lee

Retells, in graphic novel form, the tale of Arthur Pendragon who, raised in obscurity, draws a legendary sword from a stone and begins the life he was born to lead, guided by the elusive wizard Merlin.






Bakuman
By Tsugumi Oba

Average student Moritaka Mashiro enjoys drawing for fun. When his classmate and aspiring writer Akito Takagi discovers his talent, he begs Moritaka to team up with him as a manga-creating duo. But what exactly does it take to make it in the manga-publishing world?





Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography
By Sid Jacobson & Ernie Colon

Drawing on the archives and expertise of the Anne Frank House, the best-selling authors of 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation cover the short-but-inspiring life of the famed Jewish teen memoirist, from the lives of her parents to Anne's years keeping her private diary while hidden from the Nazis to her untimely death in a concentration camp.




Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater
By Van Jensen

Follows Pinocchio's continuing quest to find the vampire master and rid the world of vampires, as his fellow puppets join him on a journey across Italy.







The Odyssey
By Gareth Hinds

Retells, in graphic novel format, Homer's epic tale of Odysseus, the ancient Greek hero who encounters witches and other obstacles on his journey home after fighting in the Trojan War.






Mice Templar: Destiny
By Bryan J. L. Glass & Michael Avon Oeming

Karic might be the Chosen One--but what does such a title even mean for the young mouse who desires only to save his family from a monstrous fate? Under the training of exile Cassius, Karic learns what it truly is to be a Templar knight and warrior.





Return of the Dapper Men
By Jim McCann

When the Dapper men arrive in Anorev to restart time, Ayden, Zoe, and Dapper Man 41 seek to repair whatever made time stop.







Twin Spica
By Kou Yaginuma

Asumi is just one of many young people with ambitions to become a member of the first class admitted to the Tokyo Space School. Asumi is put to the test to determine if she has what it takes to get into this elite space academy. First Asumi has to convince herself and her father that she ultimately belongs amongst the stars.

For the Love of Classics

Classic Books and Books Based on the Classics

Loving Will Shakespeare: Carolyn Meyer: 265 pages
In Stratford-upon-Avon, romance blossoms between childhood friends Anne Hathaway and Will Shakespeare, changing both of their lives forever, in this enthralling novel that details the turbulent relationship between the world's most famous playwright and the spirited farmer's daughter he married.

King Lear: Ian Pollock and William Shakespeare: 139 pages
Vivid drawings accompany Shakespeare's classic play portraying the tragic experiences of Lear after he gives up his position as king.

Jane Eyre: Charlotte Bronte: 578 pages
The classic novel traces the doomed love affair between an orphaned, independent-minded governess and her brooding employer, Mr. Rochester.

Enthusiasm: Polly Shulman: 198 pages
Julie and Ashleigh, high school sophomores and Jane Austen fans, seem to fall for the same Mr. Darcy-like boy and struggle to hide their true feelings from one another while rehearsing for a school musical.

The Book of Mordred: Vivian Vande Velde: 342 pages
As the peaceful King Arthur reigns, the five-year-old daughter of Lady Alayna is abducted by knights who leave their barn burning and their only servant dead.

Little Women: Louisa May Alcott: 562 pages
The four March sisters experience joys and sorrows as they grow into young women in mid-nineteenth-century New England.

Wuthering High: Cara Lockwood: 257 pages
Fifteen-year-old Miranda is sent to a boarding school for delinquent teens in Maine, but she can't tell if it is the unhappy ghosts or the other students who will cause her the most trouble when their lives begin mirroring plots in classic literature.

The Three Musketeers: Alexandre Dumas: 663 pages
D'Artagnan, an impetuous young man determined to join the King's Musketeers, finds himself in an alliance with three of the group's finest swordsmen--Athos, Porthos, and Aramis--as they try to foil a plot by the scheming Cardinal Richelieu and his agent, the wicked Lady de Winter.

For more recommendations ask a librarian about the 111 Classic Books booklist and the Classics with a Twist booklist.

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New in May

The Book of Jude: Kimberley Heuston: 217 pages
In 1989, when fifteen-year-old Jude's mother wins a Fulbright fellowship to study art in Czechoslovakia, the family postpones a planned move to Utah to join her, but the political situation and the move itself are too much for Jude, who is overwhelmed by a previously undiagnosed psychological disorder.

Wake: Lisa McMann: 210 pages
Ever since she was eight years old, high school student Janie Hannagan has been uncontrollably drawn into other people's dreams, but it is not until she befriends an elderly nursing home patient and becomes involved with an enigmatic fellow-student that she discovers her true power.

The Truth about Las Mariposas: Ofelia Dumas Lachtman: 171 pages
When sixteen-year-old Caro Torres goes to help her Tia Matilda at her bed-and-breakfast in Two Sands, California, she ends up also helping her aunt fend off the attempts of her ex-husband to buy the property and steal the treasures that are hidden there.

Primavera: Mary Jane Beaufrand: 260 pages
Growing up in Renaissance Italy, Flora sees her family's fortunes ebb, but encounters with the artist Botticelli and the guidance of her nurse teach her to look past the material world to the beauty already in her life.

Shakespeare's Hamlet: The Manga Edition: Adam Sexton: 185 pages
In this fast-paced manga edition, you're instantly caught up in the conflicts and passions--the murder of the king, supernatural visitations, deception, plots, poisoned wine, revenge--that make this one of Shakespeare's most beloved tragedies.

Mythbusters: Don't Try This at Home: Mary Packard: 144 pages
Based on the popular TV show, this book presents various urban myths and legends, describes how the "Mythbusters" set out to prove the myths, explains the results, and provides instructions for how to do similar "mythbusting" at home.

Once Upon a Time in the North: Philip Pullman: 95 pages
In a time before Lyra Silvertongue was born, the tough American balloonist Lee Scoresby and the great armoured bear Iorek Byrnison meet when Lee and his hare daemon Hester crash-land their trading balloon onto a port in the far Arctic North and find themselves right in the middle of a political powder keg.

New in April

The Highwayman's Footsteps: Nicola Morgan: 354 pages
In eighteenth-century England, William runs away from his father, only to be captured by an armed highwayman who turns out to be a girl, and together they seek vengeance against William's cruel father and the soldiers who killed the girl's parents. Inspired by Alfred Noyes' poem "The Highwayman."

The Opposite of Invisible: Liz Gallagher: 153 pages
Artistic Seattle high school sophomore Alice decides to emerge from her cocoon and date a football player, which causes a rift between her and her best friend, a boy who wants to be more than just friends.

Omega Place: Graham Marks: 253 pages
After running away from home and joining a radical action group called Omega Place, Paul Hendry finds himself in the midst of something very serious when his new activist friends initiate their campaign to let the public know the type of spying the government is doing with their closed-circuit TV cameras.

Reincarnation: Suzanne Weyn: 293 pages
When a young couple dies in prehistoric times, their love--and link to various green stones--endures through the ages as they are reborn into new bodies and somehow find a way to connect.

Robot Dreams: Sara Varon: 205 pages
Tired of being alone, Dog orders a mail-order robot kit and makes himself a special friend who happily partakes in all of his new friend's adventures, in a wordless graphic novel.

Brothers, Boyfriends & Other Criminal Minds: April Lurie: 289 pages
While living on the same block as several members of the Mafia does have the advantage of a lower crime rate, fourteen-year-old April and her brother find there are times when it is also a major disadvantage.

Fight Game: Kate Wild: 279 pages
When he gets in trouble with the police, Freedom Smith, a rogue Gypsy boy, agrees to go undercover to expose a high-tech fight club that uses street children in drug-manipulated death-matches.

First Shot: Walter Sorrells: 279 pages
David Crandall, haunted by his mother's murder two years ago, uncovers a dark family secret that leads him to believe that his father, headmaster of the military school in which David is currently a senior, is the killer.

Good Enough: Paula Yoo: 322 pages
A Korean American teenager tries to please her parents by getting into an Ivy League college, but a new guy in school and her love of the violin tempt her in new directions.

Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall: Wendy Mass: 251 pages
After getting knocked out during a game of dodge ball in gym class, unhappy teen Tessa believes she has floated away to heaven and, while on her mystical journey, finally comes to terms with her past while learning to appreciate the loved ones in her life in an entirely new way.

New in January

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac: Gabrielle Zevin: 271 pages
After a nasty fall, Naomi realizes that she has no memory of the last four years and finds herself reassessing every aspect of her life.

Hush: An Irish Princess’ Tale: Donna Jo Napoli: 308 pages
Fifteen-year-old Melkorka, an Irish princess, is kidnapped by Russian slave traders and not only learns how to survive but to challenge some of the brutality of her captors, who are fascinated by her apparent muteness and the possibility that she is enchanted.

1212: Year of the Journey: Kathleen McDonnell: 288 pages
During the religious crusades that pit Muslim against Christian against Jew, a young shepherd has a vision that prompts him to gather children of all faiths and lead them on a crusade for peace.

Cover-Up: John Feinstein: 298 pages
Fledgling fourteen-year-old sports reporters Susan Carol and Stevie investigate suspicious activities at the Super Bowl after Stevie gets fired from his co-anchor job on a ground-breaking teen sports show.

Redwall: The Graphic Novel: Brian Jacques: 143 pages
When the peaceful life of Redwall Abbey is shattered by the arrival of the evil rat Cluny and his villainous hordes, Matthias, a young mouse, determines to find the legendary sword which will help Redwall's inhabitants destroy the enemy. A graphic novel adaptation of the fiction series.

Cool Stuff 2.0 and How It Works: Chris Woodford and Jon Woodcock: 256 pages
Uses computer-generated images to explain how many devices and processes of modern technology work, covering such inventions as HDTV, game consoles, robot cars, helicopters, space probes, oil rigs, mass dampers, biometric id's, and tsunami alert systems.

Thirteen Reasons Why: Jay Asher: 288 pages
When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

Transformers: The Movie Guide: Simon Furman: 69 pages
With breathtaking stills and in-depth character profiles, a guide to the new live-action Transformers movie starring Jon Voight and Bernie Mac lets readers get up close and personal with their favorite robots in disguise.

New in September

Shining On: Various Authors: 159 pages

From a cheerleader's breakup to dark family secrets, a collection of short stories by authors like Meg Cabot, Lois Lowry, and Celia Rees provides engaging tales about joys, dramas, and tribulations young people endure as they come of age.

Tantalize: Cynthia Leitich Smith: 310 pages

When multiple murders in Austin, Texas, threaten the grand re-opening of her family's vampire-themed restaurant, seventeen-year-old, orphaned Quincie worries that her best friend-turned-love interest, Keiren, a werewolf-in-training, may be the prime suspect.

While I Live: John Marsden: 299 pages

Even though the war is over and she is back on her family's farm, Ellie Linton is haunted by the memories and now must discover how to find the enemy within herself in order to move on with her life.

The Mysterious Benedict Society: Trenton Lee Stewart: 485 pages

After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.

What Makes You Happy: Jimmy Gownley: 167 pages

The second collection of comics about Amelia and her friends, the Gathering of Awesome Super Pals (G.A.S.P.), in which Amelia tries to come to terms with her Aunt Tanner's fame and goes to Manhattan with her father.

How to Take the Ex out of Ex-Boyfriend: Janette Rallison: 265 pages

Giovanna rashly breaks up with her boyfriend Jesse when he refuses to help her twin brother with his campaign for Student Council president, but fixing her mistake may be more difficult for her than she realizes.

The Rose Bride: Nancy Holder: 245 pages

After Rose's father's new wife, Ombrine, moves in with her evil daughter, the two will stop at nothing to ruin her life, so when they attempt to destroy the relationship between Rose and King Jean-Marc and tear out her late mother's beautiful garden, Rose's only inspiration for living lies in the beauty of a single blossom that survived the attack.