This summer the teen challenge on our Beanstack platform focuses on comics. Whether you are a comics reading fan or new to reading them, Oceans of Comics invites you to dive in for a swim this summer:
to log any book you read; to explore different types of comics; to write
reviews; and to attend one or more of the teen summer programs at the
Library. There are 27 badges. Earn at least 14 to complete the challenge. The more badges you earn, the more entries you will have in the Library's weekly summer prize drawings. One badge equals one entry, but you must earn at least one badge each week to be entered in that week's drawing. Earn the completion badge and you will be entered in the drawing for a goody bag and book bundle.
Below are suggestions for the challenge's comics activity. There are 7 comics badges to earn, one for each category in the challenge (7 weeks, 7 comics badges): Action/Adventure, Biography/Memoir, Humor, Nonfiction, Romance, Science Fiction, Superheroes. For more choices you could browse the teen graphic shelves in the Library,
search the catalog for read-a-likes, use
Your Next Great Read, use
NoveList's Graphic suggestions for teens, or visit the wonderful
No Flying, No Tights.
Action/Adventure
Inkblot,
by Emma Kubert, 2021. A powerful sorceress must attempt to correct her
greatest mistake--the creation of a magical cat which can travel through
time, space, and the seven realms of reality. The cat threatens to
unravel the fabric of the universe, doesn't care, and just won't listen!
The Last Witch: Fear & Fire,
by Conor McCreery, 2021. It's the one time of the year when the witch
known as Cailleach hunts the children of the village - so Saoirse, a
brave and reckless young girl, decides this is the perfect opportunity
to defy her father and discover the secrets of the witch's tower!
Magic, Vol. 1, by Jed MacKay, 2021.
Across the vast Multiverse,
those gifted with a 'spark' can tap into the raw power of Magic and
travel across realms: they are Planeswalkers, and they are being
targeted. When coordinated assassination attempts on Guildmasters Ral
Zarek, Vraska, and Kaya rock the city of Ravnica leaving Jace Beleren's
life hanging in the balance, a fuse is lit that threatens not just these
three Guilds, but the entire plane of Ravnica.
Once & Future V. 1, The King is Undead, by Kieron Gillen, 2020. When a group of Nationalists use an ancient artifact to bring a villain from Arthurian myth back from the dead, retired monster hunter Bridgette McGuire pulls her unsuspecting grandson Duncan, a museum curator, into a world of magic and mysticism to defeat a legendary threat.
Onion Skin, by Edgar Camacho, 2021. Rolando's job was crushing his soul... and then it crushed his hand. Now
he can barely get out of the house. Nera is a restless spirit who loves to taste everything
life can offer, but sleeps in a broken-down food truck and can't see a
way to make her dreams come true. When their paths cross at a rock show, the magical night seems to last forever. Together they throw
caution to the wind, fix up the truck, and hit the road for a wild
adventure.
Nancy Drew: The Palace of Wisdom, by Kelly Thompson, 2019. Nancy Drew is 17 and good at everything, especially solving
crimes. But her
totally-in-control-and-obviously-running-perfectly-smooth-(but-not-really
) life hits a snag when a mysterious message drags her back to the
hometown she left behind. There she'll have to find out which of her
friends are still her friends, which are enemies, and who exactly is
trying to kill her...and (hopefully) stop them before they succeed
.
Squire, by Nadia Shammas, 2022. Aiza has always dreamt of becoming a Knight. It's the highest military
honor in the once-great Bayt-Sajji Empire, and as a member of the
subjugated Ornu people, Knighthood is her only path to full citizenship.
Ravaged by famine and mounting tensions, Bayt-Sajji finds itself on the
brink of war once again, so Aiza can finally enlist in the competitive
Squire training program. It's not how she imagined it, though.
Topside, by J.N Monk, 2019. Sixteen-year-old Jo, a maintenance technician in an underground society,
makes a massive error during a routine repair and to set things right,
must journey above ground, to a dangerous area swarming with alien life.
Biography or Memoir
Almost American Girl: An Illustrated Memoir, by Robin Ha, 2020. When a vacation to visit friends in Alabama, becomes a permanent relocation--following her mother's announcement that she's getting married--Robin is devastated. She is dropped into a new school where she doesn't understand the language and struggles to keep up. She is cut off from her friends in Seoul and has no access to her beloved comics. She doesn't fit in with her new step family, and worst of all, she is furious with the one person she is closest to--her mother.
Andre the Giant: Life and Legend, by Box Brown, 2014. Drawing from historical records about Andre's life as well as a wealth of anecdotes from his colleagues in the wrestling world, including Hulk Hogan, and his film co-stars (Billy Crystal, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, etc), Brown has created in Andre the Giant, the first substantive biography of one of the twentieth century's most recognizable figures.
Dragon Hoops,
by Gene Luen Yang, 2020. Gene understands comic book stories. But he
doesn't get sports. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the
high school where he now teaches, it's all anyone can talk about. The
varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that's been
decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to the California State Championships. Gene gets to know the team
and realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he's seen
on a comic book page.
Hey Kiddo, by Jarrett Krosoczka, 2018. Memoir that traces the author's unconventional coming of age with a drug-addict mother, an absent father and two lovingly opinionated grandparents.
March, Book One, by John Lewis, 2013. March is a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis' lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis' personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement.
Passport, by Sophia Glock, 2021. In this memoir teenage Sophia lives with her family in South America where her parents serve as foreign diplomats, but as she explores her own boundaries around honesty and deception she discovers the true nature of her parent's work.
La Voz de M.A.Y.O.: Tata Rambo, by Henry Barajas, 2019. Tata Rambo is based on the oral history of Ramon Jaurigue, an orphan and WWII veteran who co-founded the Mexican, American, Yaqui, and Others (M.A.Y.O.) organization, which successfully lobbied the Tucson City Council to improve living and working conditions for members of the Pascua Yaqui tribe.
Humor
Cheer Up! Love and Pom Poms, by Crystal Frasier, 2021. Annie is a smart, antisocial lesbian starting her senior year of high
school who's under pressure to join the cheerleader squad to make
friends and round out her college applications. BeeBee
is a people-pleaser--a trans girl who must keep her parents happy with
her grades and social life to keep their support of her transition.
Through the rigors of squad training and amped up social pressures, the two girls rekindle a friendship they thought they'd lost.
The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor, by Shaenon K. Garrity, 2021. After she saves a man from drowning, Haley wakes up in a pocket universe that appears as a gothic estate and helps three brothers whose job it is to protect her world against a penultimate evil.
Marble Season, by Gilbert Hernandez, 2013. In this quasi-autobiographical tale, comic book legend Gilbert Hernandez paints a vibrant view of his memories of suburban family life in California during the 1960s. Marble Season masterfully explores the redemptive and timeless power of storytelling and role play in childhood.
Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, by Prudence Shen, 2013. Captain of the basketball team Charlie and president of the robotics club Nate battle it out in a school class election campaign for funding to cover a robotics competition or new cheerleading uniforms
One-Punch Man, V.1, by One, 2015. Nothing about Saitama passes the eyeball test when it comes to superheroes, from his lifeless expression to his bald head to his unimpressive physique. However, this average-looking guy has a not-so-average problem-- he just can't seem to find an opponent strong enough to take on! Every time a promising villain appears, he beats the snot out 'em with one punch! Is Saitama doomed to a life of superpowered boredom?
Pumpkinheads, by Rainbow Rowell, 2019.
Deja & Josiah are seasonal best
friends. Every autumn, all through high school, they've worked together
at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. They say good-bye every Halloween, and
they're reunited every September 1. But this Halloween is different --
Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at
the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together. Their last good-bye.
Josiah's ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it.
Deja isn't ready to let him. She's got a plan.
Nonfiction
The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler, by Johm Hendrix, 2018.
Hitler’s Nazi party is gaining strength and becoming more
menacing every day. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor upset by the
complacency of the German church toward the suffering around it, forms a
breakaway church to speak out against the established political and
religious authorities. When the Nazis outlaw the church, he escapes as a
fugitive. Struggling to reconcile his faith and the teachings of the
Bible with the Nazi Party’s evil agenda, Bonhoeffer decides that Hitler
must be stopped by any means possible.
Drawing the Vote: The Illustrated Guide to the Importance of Voting in America, by Tommy Jenkins, 2020. Coinciding with the 2020 US presidential election, Drawing the Vote looks at the history of voting rights in the United States, and how it has affected the way we vote today.
Banned Book Club, by Hyun Sook Kim, 2020. The autobiography of a South Korean woman's student days under an authoritarian regime, and how she defied state censorship.
Romance
Crush, Berrybrook Middle School, vol. 3. by Svetlana Chmakova, 2018.
Jorge seems to have it all together. He's big enough that nobody
really messes with him, but he's also a genuinely sweet guy with a
solid, reliable group of friends. The only time he ever really feels off
his game is when he crosses paths with a certain girl... But when the
group dynamic among the boys starts to shift, will Jorge be able to
balance what his friends expect of him versus what he actually wants?
Lucky Penny, by Ananth Hirsh, 2016.
If Penny didn't have bad luck, she'd have no luck at all.
She lost her job. And her apartment. In the same day. But it's okay,
her friend has a cozy storage unit she can crash in. And there's bound
to be career opportunities at the neighborhood laundromat--just look how
fast that 12-year-old who runs the place made it to management! Plus,
there's this sweet guy at the community center, and maybe Penny can even
have a conversation with him without being a total dork.
Heartstopper, Vol. 1,
by Alice Oseman, 2020. Charlie and Nick are at the same school, but
they've never met until one day when they're made to sit together. They
quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even
though he doesn't think he has a chance. But love works in surprising
ways, and Nick is more interested in Charlie than either of them
realized.
Bloom, by Kevin Panetta, 2019. Dreaming of leaving his family's bakery to become a musician in the city, Ari unexpectedly falls for the easy-going young baker, Hector, who has been hired to replace him and begins to reevaluate his dreams and the consequences of his choices.
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, by Mariko Tamaki, 2019. Laura Dean, the most popular girl in high school, was Frederica Riley's dream girl, but Freddy is learning she is not the best girlfriend, so she seeks help from a mysterious medium and advice columnists to help her through being a teenager in love.
Mooncakes, by Suzanne Walker, 2019. Nova knows more about magic than your average teen witch.
She works at her grandmothers’ bookshop, where she helps them loan out
spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New
England town. One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf
into the woods, and she comes across her childhood
crush, Tam.
Science Fiction
Clockwork Curandera: The Witch Owl Parliament, by David Bowles, 2021.
Resurrected by her brother using a forbidden combination of alchemy and
engineering, apprentice curandera Cristina vows to protect the Republic
of Santander against the lechuzas terrorizing immigrants and plaguing
the country.
Valerian: The Complete Collection. Vol. 1, by Pierre Christin, 2017. Space opera from France that juggles the mysteries of time and space through the adventures of Laureline and Valerian.
Blade Runner 2019, Vol. 1, Los Angeles, by Michael Green, Mike Johnson, and Andres Guinald, 2019. When the wife of a rich industrialist goes on the run with his daughter, Blade Runner ASHINA is called in to track her down as a favor to the woman's husband - a man, second only, in power, to Eldon Tyrell. As Ash investigates the disappearance she uncovers a deadly and shocking conspiracy,
and goes after a rogue Nexus -6 Replicant unlike any she's ever faced before.
Dune, Book 1, by Brian Herbert, 2020. Frank Herbert's epic science-fiction masterpiece set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar society, tells the story of Paul Atreides as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis. A blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism, and politics.
Last Pick, by Jason Walz, 2018. In a world where aliens have taken over Earth, abducted every human they deemed useful, and abandoned the rest, twins Sam and Wyatt struggle to start a revolution of the unwanteds.
Spill Zone, by Scott Westerfeld, 2017. Years after the devastation that
killed her parents, scarred her sister, and destroyed her city, Addison
takes a job from an eccentric collector that forces her to break her own
rules of survival.
Superheroes
Black Panther A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2016. When a violent superhuman terrorist group known as The People spark a violent uprising in Wakanda, T'Challa fights to unite his citizens and show them how to adapt in order for Wakanda to survive.
Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life As a Weapon, by Matt Fraction, 2013. In his spare time away from the Avengers, Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye, takes on the seedy underbelly of New York City with his protege, Kate Bishop, as they foil a burglary plot and infiltrate a high-stakes villain auction.
Nubia: Real One, by L. L. McKinney, 2021. Nubia has always stood out because of her Amazonian strength, but even though she uses her ability for good she is seen as a threat, so when her best friend Quisha is threatened by a boy who thinks he owns the town, Nubia risks everything to become the hero society tells her she is not.
Watchmen, by Alan Moore, 1987. the story of the Watchmen as they race against time to find a killer, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass, by Mariko Tamaki, 2019. With just $5 and a knapsack to her name, fifteen-year-old Harleen Quinzel is sent to live in Gotham City. To combat the destructive gentrification of her new neighborhood, she must choose between supporting Ivy, her friend from high school and an impassioned activist, or the Joker, an anarchist of questionable motives.
Ms. Marvel. Vol. 1, No normal, by Willow Wilson, 2014. Kamala Khan, a Pakistani American girl from Jersey City who lives a conservative Muslim lifestyle with her family, suddenly acquires superhuman powers and, despite the pressures of school and home, tries to use her abilities to help her community.
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