Article by Duane Herendeen,
WCPL Children's Department Supervisor

One of the lesser known collections we have in the Children’s Department is the graphic novel collection. Now if you grew up in the 80’s or before, the words graphic novel might not sound familiar, but if I call them comic books, then you might understand. There’s something about reading a comic style book that is refreshing and exciting. Going from word bubble to word bubble, you experience the action and emotions that the characters are encountering.

Another nice feature of graphic novels are the different lengths of the books. From a simple 20 page adventure that takes you to the world of the Smurfs, to a 1,000 page Archie comic strip book, the choices are endless.

It is hard for me to choose my favorites when it comes to graphic novels, but I can point out a few that tend to stand out from the rest. If you’re a fan of the classics, then Uncle Scrooge graphic novels will take you back to your childhood. Going on worldly adventures and keeping the Beagle Boys from getting to his money vault, you can always count on a fun story. If you remember reading the Boxcar Children mysteries in your youth, there is now a graphic novel version that follows along with the same books.

If something more up to date is what you’re looking for, why not try a Pokemon graphic novel? Prefer something more feline? Garfield continues his lasagna loving ways in graphic novel style. One of the newer additions to our collection are stories translated from popular European comics. Asterix the Gaul is always battling with the pesky Romans in the Asterix collection. An unknown gem is an American western version called Lucky Luke that is actually a French translation of what the wild west must havebeen like. If the Civil War is a fascination of yours, there’s even a graphic novel series called, The Bluecoats, which is fun to read. We even have a graphic novel of the classic, The Hobbit.

Be sure to stop by and check out a graphic novel.