Frankie's World, The Golden Hour, and Goddess Girls

I read three graphic novels this Shabbat.

Frankie's World by Aoife Dooley is a book that should be in every middle-school classroom and every children’s library. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. 

Frankie is an 11-year-old Irish girl who thinks she might be an alien. Her brain doesn’t work like anyone else’s she knows, and she keeps saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. She wants to meet her father, because she believes he might be able to explain why she is the way she is. The book is a wonderful introduction to autism in girls, written and drawn by a woman with autism. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Golden Hour by Niki Smith is a modern masterpiece that deserves the great reviews it has received. It deals with the tough topics of school shootings (one teacher is shot, but she recovers) and PTSD in young people, but against a gorgeous rural backdrop and through the lens of an adolescent who loves photography. The story is funny and touching, and the art is gorgeous. This might be a good graphic novel for a young person either dealing with anxiety or PTSD or who knows someone dealing with anxiety or PTSD. The book also teaches a little about photography and composition, as well as farm life. It’s a great book.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Goddess Girls: Athena the Brain by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams reimagines Zeus as the principal of a high school and the other characters of Greek mythology as the students. Athena has no idea she’s a goddess until she gets a letter from Zeus, who tells her she is his daughter and Hermes will be picking her up to take her to Olympus Academy. There she makes friends with Aphrodite and Pandora.

This book is okay. The writing and art are both fine. It’s a nice introduction to Greek mythology, but there’s no real conflict and no depth. The main girls are cheerleaders, and most of the girls in the book are a bit too boy obsessed. Personalities really don't go very far beyond “this is the smart one, this is the pretty one, and this is the curious one.” Still, I do think this could appeal to some very young girls, maybe in grades three and four, as an alternative to all the fairy and princess books.

🌟🌟🌟

And that’s it. I also started a fourth graphic novel I’m really enjoying, and I look forward to reviewing it next week. 

Happy reading!

"Do you have graphic novel recommendations for a precocious five-year-old girl?"

A mom asked me for graphic novel recommendations for her young daughter who likes Calvin and Hobbes, and Avatar: The Last Airbender graphic novels. 

Here's my answer:

Avatar graphic novels are great, and so is Calvin and Hobbes. 

Based on those, I recommend Squirrel Girl, Marvel Rising (it's a very young version of Marvel comics focused mainly on Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl), Diana: Princess of the Amazons, Baby Blues, Lightfall: The Girl and the Galdurian (unfortunately, only the first book is out and it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger), Phoebe and Her Unicorn, Mutts, maybe The Prince and the Dressmaker, maybe The Deep & Dark Blue, maybe Bone, Zatanna and the House of Secrets, Amulet, El Deafo, and maybe All's Faire in Middle School (the last two are realistic). 

There's a bunch of other semi-autobiographical graphic novels for kids, but I'm not sure if she'd like them because they're not fantasy, but they include Sisters, Smile, Guts, and Stargazing. 

Doodleville is very popular with little kids, and it's very cute, so I'll add that, though it didn't really appeal to me. 

And I once attended a library panel about graphic novels for kids where the librarians said kids couldn't get enough of Lumberjanes. It's great, but it's the same creator as She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, so use that as a guide to whether it's a good fit for your daughter. 

And Zita the Spacegirl. 

Hope that's not too many. I just love graphic novels. 😁

EDIT: Someone else asked for comics for a five-year-old girl, and while I directed him to this post (and to ask the comic-book store for their kids section), I realized I left out a bunch of comics from this post. 

I didn't mention Power Pack, My Little Pony, Teen Titans Go, and a bunch of other comics. If she has a favorite cartoon, there's probably a comic book for that. Ryan North has done a bunch of kid friendly Adventure Time comics, and both Ryan North and Chip Zdarsky have written kid friendly Jughead comics. There are loads of comics for little kids. You just need to know who to ask. 

A good children's library section will also have loads of graphic novels. Just ask the children's librarian for recommendations.

EDIT: I would also add the Witch Boy series by Molly Knox Ostertag to this list. It's wonderful.

The Okay Witch is also great, but it might be better for slightly older kids. Parents should read it before deciding if their kids are ready for it. (There's a bit of a Romeo and Juliet situation with the main character's parents. It doesn't end in death, but some kids might still not be ready for it.)