American Library Association releases annual ‘Great Graphic Novels for Teens’ list

‘Almost American Girl,’ ‘Superman Smashes the Clan,’ ‘The Magic Fish’ and more make this year’s list.

The Young Adult Library Association, a division of the American Library Association, has announced their ‘Great Graphic Novels for Teens’ list for 2021.

The list includes 126 titles, which were chosen from 140 nominations. The books, recommended for teens between 12 and 18, “meet the criteria of both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens,” the site says.

In addition YALSA also revealed the narrowed-down top 10 selections for the year, which include:

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Comics Lowdown: More Manga, Scary Stories and an Inside Look at North Korea

A North Korean cartoonist looks at the lighter side of defection, an American cartoonist turns down an Iranian award, and Humanoids announces an all-ages horror graphic novel.

Struggles and Smiles: Former North Korean animator Choi Seong-guk was surprised at how different the comics were when he defected to South Korea: “When I first saw South Korean cartoons, I just didn’t get them,” he says. “There were no stories about patriotism or catching spies or war. They just seemed useless to me.” There were a lot of other differences too, including some idioms that he misunderstood. Now he has turned his experiences into an online comic that depicts both the funny and the serious side of the lives of North Koreans at home and in South Korea.

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