Kids Graphic Novels

Posted on August 6, 2024 at 6:24 am by Gene Ambaum

The Unlucky Kid by Bob Holt. Kids Can Press, 2024. 9781525306594 . 64pp.

This graphic novel contains several short adventures featuring Quin, the titular Unlucky Kid. In the first, he goes to the beach with his favorite food and faces not only a crowd of hungry seagulls but a few less common problems. In the second, he’s eating corn on the cob when he discovers a loose tooth; his plan to have his dog help yank it out goes awry in an insane way. In the third, he goes fishing. Holt’s sense of humor is great and his art is even funnier.

The Great Puptective by Alina Tysoe. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024. 9781665938242. 124pp.

One day Sasha the human brings her cat, Truffles, a new friend — an insane, overeager little dog named Poppy. He investigates mysteries that mostly aren’t mysteries at all, and he’s not just super annoying, he also gets Truffles in trouble. Hilarity ensues. I loved Tysoe’s drawings, particularly of the irritated, orange Truffles.

King of the World (Tater Tales) by Ben Clanton. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024. 9781534493216. 76pp.

Rot (a mutant potato) loves spudlunking to find treasure. He finds a powerful crown that makes him feel like King of the World, and which makes everyone else believe it, too. (It also makes Rot behave kind of terribly, and it takes a while for him to realize that.) Clanton’s potato books are his silliest and my favorites. (And yeah, they have some regular old paragraphs in addition to drawings and word balloons, but they’re graphic novels.)