This year, especially with my most graphic novel-loving kid still home on break when the finalists were announced, I decided to check all of the middle grade graphic novel finalists out at once. While they’re all excellent books, since you can read the full blurbs on the Cybils site and I have an enormous backlog of books I want to share with you, I thought I’d try doing super-short reviews here. Let me know what you think!

First Time for Everything by Dan Santat. First Second, 2023. ISBN 978-1626724150. Read from a library copy.
The summer before high school, Dan joined a class trip to Europe filled with firsts that changed his life. It doesn’t shy away from even the parts that seem shocking now.  Dan Santat previously won the Caldecott Medal and this book won the National Book Award for Young People – it shows.  This spoke especially to me, as it was not so many years later that I first went to Europe myself – but the spirit of allowing oneself to explore the inner world at the same time as the outer is one that still resonates today.

Frizzy by Claribel Ortega and Rose Bousamra. First Second, 2022. ISBN 978125025622. Read from a library copy.
Marlene has been forced to take boring and humiliating weekly trips to the salon to get her hair straightened ever since her mother decided she was old enough to be a young lady. With encouragement from her best friend Camilla and help from her beloved Tia Ruby, Marlene learns how to embrace and care for her curls. Even though this focuses closely on the hair, exploring how Marlene is treated by family members and at school shines a light on the deep beliefs about hair both in Latinx and broader American cultures. My kid read this one twice.

Lo and Behold by Wendy Mass. Illustrated by Gabi Mendez. Random House Graphics, 2023. ISBN 9780593179635. Read from a library copy.
Addie’s stubbornly stayed on her own, abandoned by her friends since her mother’s serious health issues. She’s uninterested when her father moves them to a college campus for the summer, where’s he’s working on virtual reality. At first she rebuffs the friendly advances from the only other kid her age on campus, Mateo – but gradually allows him in and comes up with ideas to extend the use of AI. This deals gently with the damage an addiction in the family can cause, while staying rooted in the perils of developing friendship and the excitement of the new technologies. The art bursts from straightfoward panels into exuberance as the lines of reality are blurred with the VR. This was my kid’s second favorite of the batch, read at least three times.

Things in the Basement by Ben Hatke. First Second, 2023. ISBN 9781250836618. Read from a library copy.
Ben Hatke’s beautiful art style and creative imagination are on full display in this minimal-text graphic novel. A young boy, coded as Afro-Latino, moves into a big Victorian house with his mother and twin baby siblings. When a baby’s sock goes missing, he follows the critter who’s stolen it into the basement – finding layer upon layer of hidden rooms filled with one adventure after another. The shadowy watercolor art in muted tones really enhances this secret world. Beings kind and malevolent, and adventures both exciting and terrifying, fill the world of the basement. This is one I wanted everyone else in the family to read.

Mexikid by Pedro Martín. Dial Books, 2023. ISBN 9780593462287. Read from a library copy.
This is a rich addition to the catalog of graphic memoirs for kids. Here, the author shares his story of growing up in a large Mexican-American family in the 70s and the summer they drove from California down to Mexico to bring his grandfather home. The drawings and colors bring the places and time vividly back, while family tragedies are balanced with hijinks and truly kid-friendly disgusting things. (Read the review at a Fuse #8 Production for many more details!)

Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Club: Roll Call. by Molly Knox Ostertag, illustrated by Xanthe Bouma. HarperAlley, 2022. ISBN 9780063039247. Read from a library copy.
Can D&D save the middle school experience? Jess and her best friend Olivia have been playing just the two of them for ages, where Jess plays the brave lone knight Sir Corian. Now Olivia wants more people to join the campaign – but Jess, who doesn’t fit gender norms well enough to fit in socially in general, is afraid. Maybe her safe space will be destroyed, or maybe having someone even lower on the social ladder than she is join will make her a target again. Scenes in middle school alternate with the unfolding D&D adventure – complete with an art style shift – in a story that works well on multiple levels. This was my D&D-loving kid’s absolute favorite of the whole list, one they read at least half a dozen times before we returned it.

Saving Chupie by Amparo Ortiz. Illustrated by Ronnie Garcia. HarperAlley, 2023. ISBN 9780062950284. Read from a library copy.
Violeta Rubio loves her abuela and is excited to go to Puerto Rico for the first time to help restore and reopen the restaurant that her Abuela ran before the hurricane. She’s disappointed and bored when her family refuses her help, and disgusted when the only kids her age she meets are interested in looking for the legendary chupacabra – who would believe those fairy tales? But when Violeta actually finds an adorable baby chupacabra, she’ll do anything in her power to keep it safe. Can she bring herself to trust her new friends enough to help?