Friday 30 October 2020

ALIA Graphic October 2020 Roundup

 Greetings readers, writers, and others! 

The good news is – there are only two more months of 2020 left, so things will surely improve around the world soon….right? Also, there is only a week until we find out the results of the election in the United States of America that has the rest of the world waiting with bated breath.

Closer to home, Victoria has made the rest of the country proud with getting their Covid 19 numbers down to 0 new cases. Well done guys! Unfortunately, the news is not so great for the rest of the world – but we are here to talk all thing comics and graphic novels. So, for a few minutes, forget about your worries and check out some of the awesome news, media, new releases, and professional development we have collected for you this month.

We’ve got some really interesting articles to check out this month, including the exciting news that Lumberjanes is going to be made into an animated series. The Reading Graphic webinar by ALA looks like an excellent way to get some insight into the rapidly expanding medium of graphic novels, and for a quick shopping list check out the compilation by The Beat for 68 of the most anticipated graphic novels coming out later this year.

Pssst… Don’t feel like reading through our October Round-up? You can listen to our team chat about all of the month’s news and new releases and some of their favourite comic picks on our ALIA Graphic Podcast. While you're there, why not subscribe for some excellent Creator Chats with Australian creators. Our latest Creator Chat was with Shaun Keenan, you can listen to it as a podcast or watch it on our YouTube channel.  

News

 Collections and PD

 Media and resources

New Releases

Junior and YA

  • Animorphs Graphic Novel: The Invasion Vol. 1 - K.A. Applegate, Michael Grant, Chris Grine (Scholastic - Graphix)
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Katara and the Pirate’s Silver - Faith Erin Hicks, Peter Wartman, Adele Matera (Dark Horse)
  • Class Act - Jerry Craft (Harper Collins)
  • Fangirl, Volume 1: The Manga - Sam Maggs, Gabi Nam, Rainbow Rowell (Viz) 
  • The Flower of the Witch - Enrico Orlandi (Dark Horse)
  • Just Beyond: Welcome to Beast Island - R.L Stine, Kelly Matthews, Nichole Matthews (Boom! Studios)
  • Lightfall: The Girl and the Galdurian - Tim Probert (Harper Collins)
  • Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel - Jason Reynolds, Danica Novgorodoff (Atheneum Books)
  • Sherlock Bones and the Sea Creature Feature - Renee Treml (Allen & Unwin)
  • Swamp Thing - Maggie Stiefvater, Morgan Beem (DC Comics)
  • The Magic Fish - Trung Le Nguyen (Random House)
  • Twins - Varian Johnson & Shannon Wright (Scholastic)

 

Adult General

  • Book Tour - Andi Watson (Top Shelf)
  • Dune Volume 1 Book 1 - Frank Herbert et al. (Abrams Comics)
  • Ginseng Roots: Part One - Craig Thompson (Uncivilized Books)
  • The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott - Zoe Thorogood (Avery Hill Publishing)
  • Lon Chaney Speaks - Pat Dorian (Pantheon Books)
  • Maids - Katie Skelly (Fantagraphics)
  • Paul at Home - Michel Rabagliati (Drawn and Quarterly)
  • The Sacrifice of Darkness - Roxanne Gay, Tracy Lynne Oliver, Rebecca Kirby (Archaia)
  • Streets of Paris, Streets of Murder: Volume 2 - Jacques Tardi, Jean-Patrick Machette (Fantagraphics)
  • The Times I Knew I Was Gay - Eleanor Crewes (Scribner Book Company)
  • Under Earth - Chris Gooch (Top Shelf)
  • Zatopek - Jan Novak, Jaromir Svedjik (SelfMadeHero)


Friday 23 October 2020

International School Library Day and Children's Book Week

 


This week ALIA Graphic has been celebrating Children’s Book Week and International School Library Day.


International School Library Day is a campaign run by ALIA that focuses on promoting all the ways in which school libraries contribute to their communities. We have been promoting some fabulous books that would fit into any school library collection. Graphic novels and comic books within school libraries are a valuable resource and they are fast becoming the most borrowed collection.

 

While there is no specific category for Graphic Novels in the CBCA awards (yet), the ALIA Graphic group wanted to share with you some of our favourites and a selection of some of the books and series that are most popular with young readers in our libraries. 

 


Young readers

 

Australian titles

  • Action Tank 1 and 2 by Mike Barry
  • The Adventures of Anders by Gregory Mackay (Allen & Unwin)
  • Bad Guys (Series) - Aaron Blabey (Scholastic Australia)
  • Landing with Wings by Trace Balla (Allen & Unwin)
  • Mini Mel and Timid Tom - Ben Hutchings (Squishface Studio)
  • Rivertime by Trace Balla (Allen & Unwin)
  • Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery - Renee Treml (Allen & Unwin)
  • Super Sidekicks: Trial of Heroes by Gavin Aung Than (Penguin)
  • Word Smith Books 1 & 2 (Series) - Stephen Kok & P.R. Dedelis (TL Creative)

 



International

  • Beetle and the hollow bones by Aliza Layne
  • Catwad by Jim Benton (Scholastic)
  • Chi’s Sweet Home by Kanata Konami
  • Hocus Pocus by Manuro
  • Making Friends by Kristen Gudsnuk
  • The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner
  • Positively Izzy by Terri Libenson
  • The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill
  • Time Museum by Matthew Loux
  • Witch Boy series by Molly Ostertag

 

Authors and series

  • Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi
  • Babysitters Club series
  • Everything by Ben Hatke
  • Berrybrook Middle School series by Svetlana Chmakova
  • Catstronauts by Drew Brockington
  • The Click series by Kayla Miller
  • Hilda series by Luke Pearson
  • Percy Jackson comics
  • Phoebe and her Unicorn series by Dana Simpson
  • Everything by Raina Telgemeier
  • Wings of Fire series

  

Older readers

 

Australian

  • Arrival, The - Shaun Tan (Hachette Australia)
  • Evermore - Isobelle Carmody & Daniel Reed (Windy Hollow Books)
  • Fence (Series) - C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad, Joana La Fuente (Boom! Box)
  • Home Time Books 1 and 2 (Series) - Campbell Whyte (Top Shelf Productions)
  • Rose (Series) - Cameron Davis (Cameron Davis)
  • Terralympus Books 1 and 2 (Series) - Stephen Kok, Von Randal, Shaun Keenan (TL Creative)
  • Ubby’s Underdogs Books 1-3 (Series) - Brenton E. McKenna (Magabala Books)
  • Witchy - Ariel Slamet Ries (Lion Forge)


International

  • Bloodlust and Bonnets by Emily McGovern
  • Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
  • Mariko Tamaki in general
  • Ms Marvel by G Willow Wilson and Saladin Ahmed
  • The Old Guard by Greg Rucka
  • Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang
  • The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
  • Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki
  • The Umbrella academy by Gerard Way
  • Watchmen by Alan Moore
  • Witch Hat Atelier - Kamome Shirahama

So why not add a few of these excellent books to your collection today, and remember to encourage reading in all forms. Sometimes even the best of us struggle to get through a wordy classic. You might be surprised at how many have been adapted to graphic novels - check out this great list by Long Island Librarian Amanda Borgia.

Happy International School Library Day and we hope you had a wonderful and safe Children's Book Week!