Children's Graphic Novel

 

Title: Swim Team

Author: Johnnie Christmas

Publisher: HarperAlley

Copyright & Publishing Date: 2022

Audience: 8 - 13

Awards: Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor (2023), National Book Award Longlist (2023), Golden Dome Book Award nominee (2023 - 2024)

Starred Reviews: Booklist (04/15/22), Kirkus Reviews (03/15/22), Publishers Weekly (04/18/22), School Library Journal (04/01/22)

Summary: Bree moves to Florida from Brooklyn when her dad lands a new job there.  Bree is dismayed when her only elective choice to take is swimming.  Bree can't swim and is to afraid to tell her swimming teacher.  After almost drowning in her neighborhood pool and being rescued by her neighbor, Ms. Etta, Bree convinces Ms. Etta to give her private swimming lessons.  With Ms. Etta's help, Bree becomes a swimmer and even joins her new school's swim team.  Included in the story is the history around segregation and seeing Black people away from pools, lakes, and the ocean.  

Categories/Genre: Graphic Novel, middle grade, realistic fiction.  This book is for upper elementary/middle grade school kids since the main character is just entering middle school, although it is never said how old she is or what grade middle school begins in her school.  It is realistic fiction because the problems that Bree faces (bullying, fears, absent father, starting over) are realistic problems.  I enjoyed learning about the history around segregation and swimming.

Title: The Witch Boy

Author: Molly Knox Ostertag

Publisher: Graphix

Copyright & Publishing Date: 2017

Audience: Ages 8 -12

Lexile: GN490L

Starred Reviews: Kirkus Reviews (08/15/17), School Library Journal (10/01/17)

Summary: In Aster's community, girls become witches and boys become shape-shifters.  But Aster doesn't want to shape-shift, he wants to practice witch craft.  He even hides and watches the girls learn witch-craft.  Aster is caught and learns of what happened the last time  boy did witchcraft, the result was not good.  Aster continues to practice witch craft alone in the forest which is where he ends up meeting Charlotte from the non magical community.  Charlotte and Aster work together to figure out what happened to the boys that suddenly go missing.  Aster will have to use witch craft, although it is forbidden for him to do it, to help defeat this new evil.

Catergories/Genre: Graphic novel, fantasy, series.  This book is a children's graphic novel because the main character, Aster is thirteen years old.  Since the book deals with shape-sifting and witch craft, it is a fantasy book.  This is also the first book in a trilogy so it could be considered a series.   I included this book because of the examination of gender roles.