ALA announces its annual ‘best graphic novels’ reading lists

‘The Deviant,’ ‘Barnstormers,’ ‘Plain Jane and the Mermaids’ and more appear on the American Library Association’s lists for 2024.

The American Library Association has announced its annual lists of the best graphic novels for adults and for kids — spotlighting 100 really great graphic novels published in 2024.

The ALA’s Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table annually assembles the list, each made up of 50 titles. They also release a “top 10” for each category, with an aim to “increase awareness of the graphic novel medium, raise voices of diverse comics creators and aid library staff in the development of graphic novel collections.”

“I want to congratulate the committee on selecting this exceptional list of comics and graphic novels for young people.,” GNCRT President Shira Pilarski said. “These titles don’t just foster development of literacy skills, and they don’t just provide countless hours of entertainment for fans of graphic nonfiction, memoir, poetry and fiction. They are also beautifully illustrated works of art.”

If you’re looking for a gift for a child in your life, or even for something to read yourself, you can’t go wrong with these lists. You can find the “top ten” for adults and then for children below.

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Can’t Wait for Wednesday | Enter the ‘Houses of the Unholy’ with Ed Brubaker + Sean Phillips

Check out what comics and graphic novels will arrive in stores this week by James Kochalka, Jen Wang, Mark Russell, Bob Quinn, Joe Casey, Sebastián Piriz, Matt Kindt, Margie Kindt, Garth Ennis, Jacen Burrows, Fell Hound, Caroline Cash and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital. I flipped the script on you this week, starting with this week’s graphic novels before getting into comics. When Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Jen Wang and James Kochalka have new books out, it just feels like the right thing to do.

I’ve pulled out some of the other highlights for this week below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

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