New YA Graphic Novels and Nonfiction for September

Who was St. Nick, anyway? That’s the story that legendary YA author M. T. Anderson explores in his new work of nonfiction.

The book follows Nicholas of Myra, who was born into a fringe Jewish cult in the third century AD, and traces how he became an icon of capitalism. It’s a book about the power of stories, including where and how facts intersect with legend.

This has a banger of a cover, too.

Targeting that younger teen audience, this graphic novel follows Kiki, who has always felt kind of like an alien in the world. Why? She’s bad with time, has a short attention span (though it’s great for daydreaming), and has always experienced emotions with greater intensity than her peers. Through a lot of effort, though, Kiki discovers tools and methods to connect with others and manage her everyday tasks.

What readers–and Kiki–learn is that she’s living with undiagnosed ADHD. Learning that helps her significantly in understanding how her brain operates.

Though a fictional story, it’s based in fact and research on ADHD. It pulls from the author’s own experiences, too. This is the kind of book that will be such a window and mirror for many teen readers.

A campy feminist slasher? Count me in.

Clossdale may be a cozy town, but there have been five murders in the last five weeks. Everyone is convinced that Ash Hargreeves is the murderer, and that’s because she’s the daughter of the infamous Clossdale Killer.

The new killings mirroring those by the infamous Killer and Ash’s less-than-social nature are not the most amazing alibis for her. She has to do something, so with the help of the two friends she has, Ash is going to clear her name, she’s going to fix her mother’s reputation, and she’s going to ensure Clossdale sees no more dead girls.

Cherie is starting her first day of high school and worries she’ll never find where she belongs. But she quickly befriends Naomi, and the two bond over their shared love of the same anime. Soon, Cherie is having more-than-friends feelings for Naomi, even as their social circle expands to include Miro, a boy who wants to get into anime.

So when an upperclassman invites the three to join the school’s anime club, things get complicated. What are the relationships among all of them–platonic, romantic, something else? Is their shared love of anime enough to keep them connected?

While on the outside, Mallori looks like she’s living an amazing life as a pop star, on the inside, she’s tired of the pressure of fame, especially the pressure her mom lays on her.

What Mallori didn’t expect was to find her mom missing the morning after a big fight between them. Desperate, she calls the police for help. The police don’t find Mallori’s mom; instead, they find a cache of bodies buried in the basement of the family’s home.

Mallori wishes the news wouldn’t get out, but she’s a star, and it does. Rumors spread that her mother was a serial killer. Those rumors aren’t entirely wrong: it turns out that Mallori’s mom was also a demon slayer, and her disappearance was an abduction.

Now Mallori has just one option: take up the work her mom left unfinished in order to bring her back.

If there’s been something happening in publishing over the last decade or more that’s been extremely welcomed, it’s the adaptation of beloved YA novels into the comics format. It offers new ways to enjoy a story, for both those familiar with it and those experiencing it for the first time.

For the sake of not spoiling anything, this is the fourth title in Lu’s “Legend” series, and this addition to the graphic novel adaptation is the final installment. You can now marathon read ’em all, comics-style.

Readers who’ve loved Almost American Girl and Brownstone will be excited to pick up this graphic novel about growing up the child of immigrants and the pressures that can come with that experience.

Luis Menendez is the son of immigrants, and he’s ready to forge his own path. But he’s been told that this summer, he’ll be delivering food for his family’s struggling restaurant, forced to consider a future being made for him.

Yara is what’s helping Luis through his day. She’s his dream girl, full of confidence and an irresistible coolness. She gets Luis on a molecular level, but unfortunately for him, his time to hang is so limited.

As Luis starts to create his own path, though, it’s clashing with his parents’ expectations. Where and how does he stand up for his own goals in life, and where and how does he embrace the desires and hopes of his parents?