Adding Graphic Novels to Your Library or Classroom Collection

This ongoing feature from CBLDF provides specific resources for librarians and educators who may need to justify and defend the inclusion of the book in library and classroom collections. Titles are listed in alphabetical order.  Each column provides specific information about a book, including a summary of challenges it has faced, reviews, praise, awards and other recognitions, and additional CBLDF resources that educators and librarians can provide to their administrators when they want to add the book to their collections. These resources can also be used to address challenges. CBLDF can also help by providing assistance, writing letters of support, and facilitating access to experts and resources. Call 800-99-CBLDF or email info@cbldf.org at the first sign of a First Amendment emergency!


Adding Barefoot Gen to Your Library or Classroom Collection

71lPIsdV9hL Told from the perspective of seven-year-old Gen Nakaoka, Barefoot Gen is creator Keiji Nakazawa’s critically acclaimed semi-autobiographical manga about the events leading up to and after the dropping of the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. Spanning 10 volumes, Barefoot Gen, depicts the monstrosities of warfare in an attempt to encourage future generations to seek peace as an alternative to war. As Misayo, Nakazawa’s wife, commented shortly after his death, he felt strongly “that he must share with children accounts of the miseries of the war and the atomic bombing to prevent a recurrence.” More…


Adding Drama to Your Library or Classroom Collection

dramacover In 2014, Raina Telgemeier’s Drama made the American Library Association’s top 10 list of frequently challenged books due to a ban at Chapel Hill Elementary School in Mount Pleasant, Texas. The specific reason for the ban has not been publicly confirmed, but we can hazard a guess based on a small but vocal minority of online reader reviews objecting to the inclusion of two gay characters, one of whom shares a chaste on-stage kiss with another boy. More…


Adding Fun Home to Your Library or Classroom Collection

Funhomecover Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, a memoir of her complicated relationship with her closeted gay father and her own realization that she was gay as well, has the rare distinction of being frequently challenged at the post-secondary level. Challenges from individual students at the University of Utah and California’s Clifton Hills College were rebuffed by administrators, but in 2014 South Carolina’s legislature went so far as debating punitive budget cuts against the College of Charleston for selecting Fun Home as an optional summer reading book for incoming freshmen. More…


Adding Gender Queer: A Memoir to Your Library or Classroom Collection

Released in 2019, Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe details eir journey to identify as nonbinary and asexual and how e learned to navigate family and society. It won both the Alex Award and the Stonewall Book Award in 2020 and was a nominee for the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel and the YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens. It is a refreshingly genuine resource for readers, and as Publishers Weekly describes, “with a script that’s refreshingly smooth and nondidactic for the topic.” More. . .


Adding The Graveyard Book Graphic Novel to Your Library or Classroom Collection

Graveyard Book The Graveyard Book is a two-volume graphic novel adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Newbery Medal-winning prose novel of the same name. Adapted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell, alongside artists Kevin Nowlan, Tony Harris, Scott Hampton, Galen Showman, Jill Thompson, and Stephen B. Scott, the full-color graphic novel tells the story of Nobody Owens, a boy raised by ghosts, and his adventures through the graveyard where he lives. Publisher’s Weekly called it “a vastly entertaining adaptation… It’s a treasure worth having even if the novel is already on the shelf.” In February 2015, CBLDF was confidentially involved the defense of the graphic novel edition of The Graveyard Book, which was challenged in an undisclosed middle school library for violent imagery. More…


Adding The Handmaid’s Tale to Your Library or Classroom Collection

Handmaid’s Tale Graphic NovelMargaret Atwood’s dystopian classic The Handmaid’s Tale is experiencing a resurgence in popularity, its themes and message resonating with new and familiar audiences alike. Between Atwood’s long awaited sequel, The Testaments, being released and the award-winning television series, it’s likely teachers will be drawn to include this cultural touchstone in their syllabi. The original text has consistently been one of the Top 100 Most Challenged and Banned Books for over twenty years, and now with the release of a critically acclaimed graphic novel adaptation, CBLDF is offering this resource to help teachers and librarians bring this important comic into their classrooms and collections with confidence. More…


Adding Kindred: A Graphic Novel to Your Library or Classroom Collection

Octavia Butler’s shift in the last 40 years to ever expanding popularity in both academia and popular culture is due not only to her brilliant (and at times prescient) work, but also to generations of fans heralding her books  to anyone who will listen. This includes the release of Kindred: A Graphic Novel, which despite its stark, brutal rendering, is a beautiful love letter by John Jennings and Damian Duffy to Butler and her original text. Teachers and librarians who loved the prose book will be eager to add Kindred: A Graphic Novel to their collections and curriculum, and this CBLDF resource is aimed at streamlining that process. More…


Adding Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me to Your Library or Classroom Collection

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me was published in 2019. The graphic novel was written by Mariko Tamaki (the writer of This One Summer, a frequently challenged and banned book) and illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell. The book, which is multi-award winning and has received widespread critical acclaim, focuses on the story of Freddy Riley and her relationship with her on-again, off-again girlfriend, Laura Dean. As the relationship plays out, we see its effects on Freddy and her friends.

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Adding Lumberjanes: The Infernal Compass to Your Library or Classroom Collection

lumber janesIt can be difficult for educators and librarians to find professional reviews of comics and graphic novels in the best of situations, due in part to the small section of revered outlets that review comics. But for a successful series like Lumberjanes, it can become impossible to track down information to support the inclusion of later volumes in a curriculum or collection – and this can directly impact teachers and librarians ability to react to challenges. But lack of obvious reviews doesn’t correlate to merit. Take a look at these reviews and other resources for Lumberjanes: The Infernal Compass to make your case for adding this volume to your collection today.  More…


Adding My Brother’s Husband to Your Library or Classroom Collection

MBH1Gengoroh Tagame’s award-winning manga series My Brother’s Husband (Japanese: Otōto no Otto) has been hailed by critics and creators all over the world as a fascinating look at family, homophobia, cultural differences, and grief. Serialized in Japan from 2014 to 2017, the series was published in the U.S., translated by the acclaimed and talented Anne Ishii, in two omnibuses collecting the issues. The story focuses on single father Yaichi, his daughter Kana, and Mike Flanigan, a Candian man who shows up on their doorstep announcing he is the widower of Yaichi’s estranged twin brother. This manga is the perfect entry point into LGBTQ+ content, manga, or comics for readers unfamiliar with any of these areas, as the work is endlessly relatable to audiences of all types. But because LGBTQ+ content faces more challenges and bans than other work, here are some things to note when adding it to your library or classroom.  More…


Adding My Friend Dahmer to Your Library or Classroom Collection

Derf Backderf’s My Friend Dahmer is part memoir and part deeply researched journalism. The award-winning graphic novel recounts Backderf’s high school years and his experience unknowingly seeing the makings of the serial killer Jeffery Dahmer. Published by Abrams Comicsarts in 2012, the graphic novel is an expansion on Backderf’s Eisner-nominated 24-page self-published work of the same name. More…


Adding Palomar to Your Library or Classroom Collection

Palomar Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez collects the author’s “Heartbreak Soup” stories, which originally appeared in the Love and Rockets series, a collaboration with his brothers Jaime and Mario. The book, which has received widespread critical praise, focuses on the interconnected lives of characters from one family in the fictional South American town of Palomar. In February 2015, the mother of a 14-year-old student in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, demanded the book’s removal from the Rio Rancho High School library collection because it contained “child pornography pictures and child abuse pictures.” More…


Adding Persepolis to Your Library or Classroom Collection

Persepolis Since 2013, Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of her childhood during and after Iran’s Islamic Revolution has rather unexpectedly become one of the most frequently challenged graphic novels in U.S. classrooms and school libraries. Despite the book’s critical acclaim, some parents and even educators or school administrators react to the few profanities and scenes of torture by trying to get it removed from schools. In at least two cases that we know of, Islamophobia also played a role in the challenge. More…


Adding Saga to Your Library or Classroom Collection

sagavol1 Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples sci-fi epic adventure Saga has not only become one of the bestselling and most critically acclaimed comic series since its debut in March 2012, but it has also become one of the most controversial comics. More…


Adding The Sandman to Your Library or Classroom Collection

preludes When asked about how he felt when Sandman was labelled unsuitable for teens, Gaiman responded, “I suspect that having a reputation as adult material that’s unsuitable for teens will probably do more to get teens to read Sandman than having the books ready and waiting on the YA shelves would ever do.” More…


Adding This One Summer to Your Library or Classroom Collection

This One Summer The announcement of the 2014 Caldecott Medal winner and honorees had many people rushing to pick up the books for their library and classroom collections. Graphic novel This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki broke boundaries by becoming the first graphic novel to make the short list for the Caldecott Medal. Unfortunately, the Caldecott honor yielded an unforeseen negative outcome: Since the announcement of the Caldecott honor, CBLDF has been confidentially involved in monitoring challenges to This One Summer in various communities. More…


Adding V For Vendetta to Your Library or Classroom Collection

SMiling Guy Fawkes mask with the title V For Vendetta.

V For Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd features a near-future fascist dystopia to rival anything seen in We1984, or Fahrenheit 451. Nightmarish governmental departments control the populace suppressing their freedom and identities. The imagery of the Guy Fawkes mask worn by the character V has become recognized worldwide as a symbol of fighting fascism. More. . .