Teens are tough to buy for, but young adult librarians tend to be on their wavelength, so the Young Adult Library Services Association’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens list always causes a flood of interest when it is released each January.
This year’s longlist included 13 graphic novels from Image, 13 from Marvel, 12 from BOOM! Studios, and 10 from First Second. Despite launching its DC Ink YA imprint in 2019, DC had only two titles on the longer list. Seven Seas, the smallest manga publisher represented on the list, had the biggest manga presence, 12 volumes in all.
The jury also chose the 2020 Great Graphic Novels for Teens Top Ten, winnowed down from the longer list. Here’s the top ten:
- Bloom, by Kevin Panetta, art by Savanna Ganucheau (First Second)
- Cosmoknights: Book One, by Hanna Templer (IDW Publishing)
- I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir, by Malaka Gharib (Clarkson Potter)
- Kiss Number 8, by Colleen AF Venable, art by Ellen T. Crenshaw (First Second)
- Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, by Mariko Tamaki, art by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell (First Second)
- The Life of Frederick Douglass: A Graphic Narrative of a Slave's Journey from Bondage to Freedom, by David F. Walker, art by Damon Smyth and Marissa Louise (Ten Speed Press)
- Pumpkinheads, by Rainbow Rowell, art by Faith Erin Hicks (First Second)
- Simon & Louise, by Max de Radigues (Conundrum International)
- They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei and Justin Eisinger, art by Harmony Becker (Top Shelf Productions)
- Witch Hat Atelier, Vols. 1-3, by Kamome Shirahama (Kodansha Comics)
