Tag: GGN2024

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2024) Featured Review: The Librarian of Auschwitz: The Graphic Novel by Antonio Iturbe, Salva Rubio, and Loreto Aroca

  • The Librarian of Auschwitz
  • by Antonio Iturbe, Salva Rubio, and Loreto Aroca
  • Publisher: Godwin Books
  • Publication Date: January 3, 2023
  • ISBN-13: 9781250842985

Based on Antonio Iturbe’s critically acclaimed historical YA novel, this graphic adaptation focuses on Dita Kraus’s experiences in Camp BIIb, the children’s block of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Young Dita is charged with taking care of the eight forbidden books that have been smuggled into the family camp and hidden. If the Nazis discover the books, people will die. Dita risks her life for the sake of these books and shows tremendous bravery, ingenuity, and determination by doing so. Eventually, the Germans close Camp BIIb, and Dita and her mother are sent to other camps. Thanks in part to the tenacity she developed as the “librarian of Auschwitz”, Dita survives the Holocaust.

By concentrating on Dita’s time at Camp BIIb, the graphic adaptation succeeds in making Iturbe’s original 400+ page novel accessible to more readers. Dita’s resolve as the librarian of Auschwitz shines through in the text as well as in Aroca’s graphic depiction of her. Images of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen capture the horrors of both time and place, and the mostly grayish blue color palette of the background helps to set the tone.

Readers of this graphic novel might want to seek out Iturbe’s award-winning novel of the same name or perhaps Dita Kraus’ adult memoir A Delayed Life: The True Story of the Librarian of Auschwitz. Books about the Holocaust are plentiful: for teens interested in reading more about the concentration camps, recommend Alan Gratz’s Prisoner B-3087, Elizabeth Wein’s Rose Under Fire and the recently published young reader’s edition of The Boy who Followed His Father into Auschwitz by Jeremy Dronfield. For teens who want to read about the Soviet gulags, hand them Ruta Sepetys’ Between Shades of Gray, either the original novel or the 2021 graphic adaptation by Andrew Donkin.

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: November 29, 2022
Release January 1, 2021
Release Date: April 18, 2023
Release Date: November 2, 2022

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2024) Featured Review: Sunshine: A Graphic Novel by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

  • Sunshine: A Graphic Novel
  • by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
  • Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
  • Publication Date: April 18, 2023
  • ISBN-13: 9781338356328

In this graphic memoir, a standalone companion to Hey, Kiddo! (2018), Krosoczka recalls the summer he spent as a counselor at a camp for critically ill children, teens and their families. While at camp, he makes strong personal connections with the campers, his fellow counselors, and the adults who work there. He also comes to understand some of the complexities of life, illness, and death and how art can make a difference in the world.

Teens frequently seek coming-of-age stories which elicit strong emotional responses, and Sunshine certainly produces those feelings without becoming didactic or sentimental. Krosoczka deftly balances the difficult realities of Camp Sunshine with his own ever-changing perspectives of life and art. Of particular note in this memoir are Krosoczka’s unique illustrations. A limited color palette of gray and orange with the occasional splash of yellow helps to capture his multifaceted thoughts and memories from that time. The photographs, newspaper articles, and drawings that open the chapters add authenticity to Krosoczka’s experiences.

Teens who have already read Hey, Kiddo! will want to read more about Krosoczka’s life in this story. This graphic memoir will also be popular with teens who read novels and watch films like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and Five Feet Apart by Rachel Lippencott. Recommend this book to younger teens who have read Sharon Draper’s Out of My Heart or Rob Harrell’s Wink.

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: October 18, 2022
Release Date: November 8, 2022
Release Date: January 19, 2023
Release Date: September 19, 2023

The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2024) Featured Review: Belle of the Ball by Mari Costa

  • Belle of the Ball
  • by Mari Costa
  • Publisher: First Second
  • Publication Date: March 21, 2023
  • ISBN-13: 9781250784124

Quiet high schooler/mascot Belle has a crush on head cheerleader Gina. Gina, a high achiever, has an on-and-off relationship with her jock girlfriend, Chloe, who is currently failing her English class. In order for Chloe and Gina to be on the same ten year plan, Gina befriends Belle to convince her to tutor Chloe. After a rocky start, Belle and Chloe start to bond over their shared interests and childhood friendship. As Gina finds herself working more and more towards achieving her academic dream, and Chloe and Belle get closer, it becomes clear that the things these three initially thought they wanted may have changed.

Belle of the Ball by Mari Costa takes a simple premise, a high school love triangle, but develops it into a sapphic romcom story that sparks with humor and emotion throughout. All three protagonists feel realistic and likable in a way that makes you root for all three. The artist’s decision to provide distinct body types, hairstyles, and expressions for each character’s design is another way she successfully develops the character-driven story. The choice of a pink color palette gives the book a swoon-worthy vibe.  It successfully merges art and dialogue seamlessly in its narrative, and provides an enjoyable experience for readers who will definitely want more.

Hand this comic to fans of the graphic novel series Heartstopper by Alice Oseman, or The Girl From the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag, all books that share similarities in light romance stories with a strong emotional core. This is also a perfect book for fans of sapphic romance stories that follow enemies to lovers, such as the book She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen.

—Rachel Johannigmeier

Other Nominated Titles

Released: September 20, 2022
Released: September 27, 2022
Released: October 4, 2022
Released: October 11, 2022

The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.