Must-Read New Middle Grade Graphic Novels for Fall

You might recognize Escabasse as the creator of the Witches of Brooklyn series. Her latest graphic novel introduces Adèle, a Montreal tween whose first menstrual cycle brings on ghost sightings. I’m always a sucker for a Montreal-based story (my home city that I don’t live in currently) and the concept of a young medium in a community that celebrates periods is delightful. There’s even a period party to celebrate Adèle’s first cycle, a very sweet bonding moment where the women and girls talk about their experiences and how it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

Ruth’s family moved from Toronto to Hong Kong when she was 13 years old. Hong Kong was where her mother grew up, but to Ruth, it was a disorienting and foreign city. Over time, she makes friends, learns Cantonese, and explores her new home. Plus, Ruth’s story of perseverance is interwoven with the story of her father’s birth taking place while his family was on the run during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Above all else, Chan’s story is about the importance of family sticking together and supporting one another.

In this graphic memoir, Patton relays her own story about growing up with an incarcerated father. While she doesn’t shy away from the hard parts of her experience, Patton focuses on how she and her father stayed in touch and bonded. Eventually, they created an app together that allows children to stay in touch with their parents in prison. It’s a fantastic story and a reminder of why children’s interest in STEM should be encouraged.

A must-read for the spooky story fan in your life. Blue and Herschel are unpopular at school, but at least they have each other. Classmates Chad, Don, and Paloma—bullies who target them regularly—trick them into a quest for a hidden treasure that’s surrounded by ghosts. This is a good mix of realistic fiction and seasonally-appropriate fantasy.

Being the new kid in school has self-identifying nerd Tony unpacking some big existential questions—what makes a person who they are, for instance—while struggling with bullies. The story gets pretty intense for a time, but it also is happy, funny, charming and ultimately heartwarming. He finds a pack of fellow weirdos and goes to sessions with a very patient therapist, eventually learning to accept and celebrate his quirks.

In a gothic fairy tale set against the backdrop of a seaside town, Madeline is the only one who can save her community from sudden endless nighttime. The Night Mother, meant to gather the souls of the dead and send them off as moonlight, has become greedy for power and begun stealing the souls of the living. Her behaviour shift causes perma-darkness and Madeline decides to step in and stop it. This is the first in a series.

This is another one with fairy tale elements, set in a world of magicians and liches. Ada and Safi are sisters coping with the recent loss of their magician mother to war, and their father’s declining health. Safi takes after her mother and has especially strong powers, but she lacks a mentor to train her and protect her from magic-draining liches. When Safi finds a family of magicians who want to take her on as an apprentice, Ada struggles because she wants to support Safi’s education, but is unhappy and isolated while dealing with their father’s decline. This fantasy story reinforces the importance of family bonds, both born and found.

Two children, Myunghee and Yunho, navigate leaving North Korea as refugees alongside Yunho’s mother. The stakes are high, and the three of them deal with unimaginable challenges as they utilise the support of the Asian Underground Railroad. Absolutely gripping, this is one of the best graphic novels I’ve read in a long while and it pairs an important story with gorgeous illustrations.