My Favorite GNs of 2017

It's that time of year again, when I single out what I feel are the best graphic novels I've read that were published in the last year. I read a lot of them, and these are the ones that have stayed with me most. Enjoy!

Favorite Book
My Favorite Thing is Monsters
Set in 1968 Chicago, this book is a coming of age tale/murder mystery/holocaust survivor story/appreciation of classical art that prominently features monsters from the movies and popular culture. It's gorgeous, has more layers than an onion, and will pop your eyes out with its artwork. It's a masterpiece of a book, and an instant classic. People will be talking about it for decades, and I cannot recommend you read it enough.

Favorite Memoir
The Best We Could Do
This multi-generational account of an immigrant family from Vietnam is a heartfelt and enlightening look at the effects of war on a people, the hardships that many refugees endure, and the complicated ways families operate. It's a beautiful and very human book that I feel contains an important story for contemporary times.

Favorite Biography
The Abominable Mr. Seabrook
Watching the title character destroy himself with alcohol is painful to observe, but his life is fascinating and exceptional. This meticulously researched account of a proto-Gonzo journalist who dined with cannibals, observed voodoo rituals, and roamed the Arabian Desert with Bedouins is well-detailed, beautiful, utterly engrossing, and devastating.

Favorite Coming-of-Age Story
Spinning
Tillie Walden's account of her childhood/adolescence hiding the fact that she is gay while being a competitive ice skater is beautiful, understated, gut-wrenching, and memorable. I feel this book would be very popular with YA readers, but it will resonate with older readers as well.

Favorite Music Book
California Dreamin': Cass Elliot Before The Mamas & the Papas
Artist Pénélope Bagieu is a genius. This biography of Mama Cass is exquisitely drawn, not to mention that it contains beautiful and seemingly effortless storytelling. Not just for fans of classic rock or folk music, this book speaks to anyone with a dream of changing their life circumstances.

Favorite True Crime GN
The Hunting Accident

This book about turbulent relationships between fathers and sons hinges on an incredible true story that involves a robbery, mob connections, poetry, prison, an infamous murderer, a shotgun blast to the face, and a trip through hell. The artwork is appropriately dark and phantasmagorical, and the story will leave you breathless.

Favorite New Series
Rock Candy Mountain
As I have stated repeatedly in the past, I am totally in the can for anything Kyle Starks publishes. This comic is his first ongoing series, and it features hobos, trains, fist-fights, and the devil himself. Go read it if you like fast-paced action and intrigue as well as witty and funny dialogue.

Favorite Series
Fantasy Sports
All the entries in this series have been pure gold. Full of jokes, magic, sports, and intrigue, these comics are fun, fascinating, and exceptionally beautiful to boot. The latest entry features the most compelling rounds of mini-golf ever put to paper, and I cannot wait for the final volume in the series coming next year.

Favorite Book for Younger Readers
Real Friends
This memoir of childhood is an intimate and moving depiction of elementary school friendships. It is full of relatable moments and surprisingly complex characters and has much to offer any reader, girls and boys included.

Favorite Nonfiction Book
Dogs: From Predator to Protector
The latest in the Science Comics series is simply fantastic. A book that covers all kind of ground, from genetics to heredity to breeding to the history of domesticating animals. It's a rare fun and funny book that is chock full of information. Plus, Rudy the narrator is adorable.

Favorite Adapted Webcomic
Demon
These books (4 in all) are also easily the most depraved books of the year, but they are ingenious, funny, and compelling. This account of the machinations of a maniacal killer over a period of centuries as he tries to avoid capture while also foiling a plot to take over the world is beautifully plotted and paced. And gross. It will offend you and make you squirm, I guarantee. Not for kids. 

Favorite Book About Mythology 
Pantheon
Giving Demon a run for its money in terms of gross-out factor, Pantheon is exceptional in that it is colorful, hilarious, raunchy, irreverent, and apparently extremely faithful in retelling myths from Ancient Egypt. You will never look at salad the same after reading this book. I know I don't. Also not for kids.

Well, that's my list. Happy New Year!

Real Friends

Real Friends is a memoir about the trials and tribulations of friendship in elementary school. The story here follows Shannon from her days in kindergarten to fifth grade. She has a tough time making friends at first but then meets Adrienne and something just clicks. They are inseparable for a while, but as they get older their relationship gets complicated by other friends, boys, and summer vacations. By the time second grade comes along, they start hanging around a girl named Jen. Jen is very popular and talented, and she ends up the leader of a collection of girls called The Group.

 

Much of this book involves Shannon's various adventures and misadventures with The Group. She strives to belong to it, but she also has to endure a lot of hardship and emotional pain from trying to fit in while being tormented by various Group members. On top of the friendship dynamics, we are also privy to Shannon's family life.  A middle child with four siblings, she often feels isolated and starved for attention. Adding to her load, her older sister Wendy has her own troubles and often unleashes her misery in Shannon's direction. In the end, I felt this book was a very relatable and accurate look at childhood friendships. The author also has a bunch of commentary before and after the story, and the whole enterprise resists easy answers and pigeonholing about people, which I found refreshing. Also, I very much enjoyed the emotion and various personalities conveyed through the art. This book is both vibrant and evocative.

This book is a collaboration between author Shannon Hale and artist LeUyen Pham. Hale is a prolific children's book and YA author, and she has a few graphic novels under her belt, too, including Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack. Pham has drawn a good number of children's books, including The Bear Who Wasn't There, and has worked with Hale before on a series of The Princess in Black books. Both creators speak about their work on this graphic novel in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been glowing. In a starred review for the School Library Journal, Mahnaz Dar summed up, "This tender, perceptive graphic memoir is bound to resonate with most readers, especially fans of Raina Telgemeier and kids struggling with the often turbulent waters of friendships and cliques." Kirkus Reviews called it "A painful and painfully recognizable tale of one girl’s struggle to make and keep 'one good friend.'” In another starred review, Publishers Weekly called it "a wonderfully observed portrait of finding one’s place in your world."

Real Friends was published by First Second and they have a preview and much more about it available here.

A review copy was provided by the publisher.