We’re going to a friend’s house for dinner tonight, Christmas Eve. I just found out that the 11-year-old daughter is really into graphic novels, and her mother suggested we get her one as a gift.
Requirements:
It doesn’t have to be overly girly, but it shouldn’t be too boy-y either.
The family is conservative (socially), so nothing too daring.
The girl does not like scary stories at all.
I need to have a good shot at finding it in stock at Barnes & Noble, since I don’t have time to order it.
I realize this is a long shot — mostly because of (4) — but I’d appreciate any help y’all can provide.
My son is 8 and he just finished the Amulet series. There’s (6?) books so far in the series. Here’s book 1.
The main character is a girl also. Should be right up her alley is she hasn’t read it already.
It’s tough when we don’t know what she has. Some of the Minx books are pretty cool if B&N still have them. But the girl might have read them already, so I’m not even going to try there.
It looks like Barnes & Noble just got in the first volumes of the current Captain Marvel (Carol in space) and Ms. Marvel (Kamala gets powers, gets shot, powers heal her) series. I don’t think those are too scary, but I’m not 11 anymore. I can vouch for these as being decent and recent, but again, maybe a little scary?
Looking at the B&N site, I’m surprised that Liberty Meadows is listed when I look for “women’s comics.”
However, that’s probably not going to be on the shelves, and there are at least two other Warriors three GN’s, one by Stan Lee (a bad sign) and one by Bill Willingham (a very bad sign if you’re buying for an 11-year-old girl from a conservative family). I haven’t read either of those, can’t vouch for them, but Stan was overextended when he was editor, and Willingham is kind of a creep.
I can’t believe I forgot about Bone! I gave it to my own daughter when she was 8 or so — but she’s much more advanced than the girl I’m buying for today. :rolleyes:
I have Ms. Marvel, and I’m going to read it before I wrap it because, y’know, I can.
Thank you all for the rest of the suggestions. I’m off to the store.
A bunch of the Sherlock Holmes short stories were redone as graphic novels (sort of comic book style) for kids. At 11, she might be to old for them. I tried to read some of them with my 8 year old and they were a little over her head, but if she was a stronger reader they probably would have been fine. If you can find them, they might be worth looking at.
We read The Red Headed League. I’m not sure if that’s the exact one, but it’s the same idea. It would give you/her parents a good idea if she’s ready to jump into the regular Sherlock Holmes short stories. They’re quick and pretty easy to digest, even for a young kid.
Come to think of it, we also read the graphic version of A Scandal In Bohemia.
Zita, the Spacegirl, which is now a series of three. Young girl gets zapped to a far away planet and becomes a space heroine. Three Thieves, seems to have gone to five volumes since I last checked in. The serial adventures of a young thief-acrobat and her quirky companions. In the second book, she actually rescues a prince.
All four of these have preteen girl leads, and all of them have at least one sequel. I’ve read and enjoyed them all, and there is not anything scary there.
Hidlafolk series by Luke Pearson: in an unnamed modern Slavic country, a girl solves mysteries involving fairy creatures like missing mountain giants or strange black ghost dogs. Mostly involved with friendship, honesty, personal growth. Not scary, but sometimes a little surreal, like a dr seuss book. The art is lovely - oversized books with lots of panels. Like TinTin.
Hereville. 2 volumes. By Barry Deutsch. An orthodox Jewish girl lives in a fairytale woods and defeats witches and dopplegangers with her sharp wit and compassion. Lots of moral decisions and consideration of being a ‘good girl’ and being a ‘good person.’ Very like Bone.
Zita the Spacegirl. 3 volumes. By Ben Hatke. Easily my favorite of the lot. Zita accidentally pushes her best friend (a boy) into a space-time rift and then has to go in after him to save him, making super-weird alien friends and enemies along the way. Lots of solid themes of friendship and loyalty and honesty and love. Excellent characters, the art is fantastic, adventurous and solid storytelling without being scary.
Foiled (vol 1) and Foiled Again (vol 2) by Jane Yolen. This one’s aimed a bit older, but still preteen-appropriate. Aliera is a fencer who discovers that she is a mortal knight belonging to the Summer Court (seelie) of faerie. She is opposed (and sometimes aided) by a Winter Court (unseelie) goblin who has had a taste of being a normal human boy in school and doesn’t want to be a goblin anymore. Very good, and the most ‘human girl’ focus of them all. Bonus points for having a disabled main character and that the girls play D&D as part of the plot.
Princess Ugg- I think the first arc is out in Graphic Novel form now. It’s an odd couple style adventure story with a barbarian princess and a more traditional fairy tale princess working together.
I’m thinking that I shouldn’t recommend something *I *would want to read, but something a preteen would like.
So I’m going for manga for girls, also known as shoujo manga. A bit of research tells me that something called Skip Beat is fairly popular. Also look for Fruits Basket, *Ouran High School Host Club *and Mars. Any comic booj store should carry at least one of those.