The nominees for the 2025 Harvey Awards have been announced. These awards recognize the best in comics in the previous year in a variety of categories. Here are the nominees in the juvenile categories:
The 2025 Eisner Awards have been announced. These awards are the biggest in the comic industry and are announced every year at Comic-Con. The biggest winner this year was delightfully a teen graphic novel: Lunar New Year Love Story that won 3 of the awards, including overall Best Writer. Here are the youth finalists and winners:
This sequel to Beetle and the Hollowbones captures the same spirit as the first. In this new story, Beetle and Kat are looking forward to attending the Chimera Carnival together, an event that happens every ten years. The event draws dragons from across the world to the space. But when Kat and Beetle discover an injured dragon who is crying for their egg to be rescued, they are drawn into a dark mystery that hides behind the celebration. Meanwhile, Beetle’s magic starts to manifest physically in new ways and Kat has to deal with her parents and their expectations for her and her magic. As the threat grows, Kat and Beetle have to figure out who to trust and how to battle a force that could wipe out everyone they love.
Layne does such an amazing job of creating a graphic novel that is both an adventure through a magical realm and also an exploration of the two main characters and their love. This second book explores the world more fully, including Beetle’s goblin magic and a new underground realm. It also has the characters coming out to loved ones and developing their connection to be even closer. The art is filled with purples, oranges and greens, bringing the world, the carnival and the characters to life with color and action.
A dynamic and loving second book in a great graphic novel series. Appropriate for ages 12+.
Rowan is learning to be a ranger, taking care of the land and its people with the help of a flying horse. But when Rowan tries to show off their skill and doesn’t listen to cautions, their horse is injured. Stuck now walking everywhere, Rowan is assigned to help Leone, a lone figure who spends a lot of time with sheep. Leone has his own dreams. He plays the fiddle constantly but won’t play for any person at all. As the two of them start their slow journeys together, their friendship begins to grow. Each finds support in one another, creating joy and romance.
O’Neill is author of The Moth Keeper and the Tea Dragon Society. This graphic novel combines a fantasy world with a trans and non-binary coming out story for both main characters. Beautifully told and filled with true moments of connection and romance, this book features characters who are complex and layered.
Beautifully illustrated and compellingly told, this graphic novel will make your heart soar. Appropriate for ages 10-14.
Anang wants to make a ribbon skirt to wear at an upcoming powwow, a skirt that is traditionally worn by Anishinaabe girls. Anang is two-spirit and nonbinary. While they have some concerns about wearing a ribbon skirt, they decide to follow their dreams. Helped along the way by spirits, turtles and crows, Anang steadily gathers the items they need for their skirt. Supported by their family and friends, Anang must also deal with a girl who used to be a close friend but now is more like a bully. It’s up to Anang to stay strong, follow their path and create their perfect skirt.
Mukwa is also a two-spirit Anishinaabe and this is their debut book. Written with a wry sense of humor, an honest take on support and fear, and a delight in the spirits helping, this graphic novel has a winning combination. The illustrations are bold and colorful, making the graphic novel all the more approachable for young readers.
A timely and joyful look at being nonbinary and living your dream life. Appropriate for ages 8-12. Reviewed from library copy.
JieJie lives with her little brother in a barren wasteland that they trek across for water and to reach the phone that lets when call their mother who works in a far off city. One day, the children discover the broken parts of a robot in a trash heap. JieJie uses skills her mother taught her to fix the robot and her little brothers asks the robot to be his mom. The AI boots into mother mode and soon the three of them are living a better life together, but what will happen when their real mother returns?
Done in pencil illustrations that capture the dark desolation, this graphic novel looks towards the light. Color is introduced only sparingly, offsetting the darkness but never taking it fully away. The story is hauntingly told, the answers are never easy and the humanity of robots and humans alike is the center of the tale.
Another simply beautiful read from this author. Appropriate for ages 8-12.
Nao grew up not fitting in in the United States, hoping to find a place that felt more like home in Japan. She had visited as a child, but now was going to be attending Japanese cram school. She moved into Himawari House, a house shared with several other students, all attending the school but at different levels. Nao discovers that fitting in isn’t as simple as a shared language, especially when she doesn’t speak it as well as she thought. Two of the girls who also live in the house have left their own countries to study in Japan. They all learn to find a way to connect with both Japanese culture and their own. Whether it is through shared food, watching shows together around a laptop, or reconnecting with family they left behind.
This graphic novel is wonderful. There is so much tangled in the stories of the three girls. Each of the teens is a unique person with specific experiences that led them to come to Japan, whether it was well-planned or almost a whim. They all face difficulties and handle them in their own ways, which tell the reader even more about who they are. Add in a touch of romance and their search for a place to belong becomes painfully personal and amazingly universal at the same time.
The art is phenomenal. From silly nods to manga style to serious moments that shine with a play of light and shadow to character studies that reveal so much in a single image of one of the characters, the illustrations run a full gamut of styles and tones. The language in the book is also fascinating, sharing the English mixed with other languages, changes in linguistic formats and the blank moments that happen when learning a language. It’s all so cleverly done.
A great graphic novel that explores finding a place in the world to belong. Appropriate for ages 13-18.
Borders by Thomas King, illustrated by Natasha Donovan (9780316593069)
When his older sister decides to move to Salt Lake City, a boy and his mother take her to the border between Canada and the U.S. His mother decided one day to make the trip to Utah to visit. They got dressed up and ready to leave the Blackfoot reserve. When they reached the border though, his mother refused to say that she was Canadian, giving her citizenship as Blackfoot. Caught between two countries, refusing to deny her true citizenship, the boy is caught with her as they demonstrate the power of their identity and family.
Written by an award-winning author of Cherokee and Greek descent, the graphic novel is illustrated by a well-known Métis illustrator. The book insists that readers see Native identity and recognize it as valid in a way that neither country is willing to. The story is immensely uncomfortable as readers wait for a resolution to come along with the boy and his mother. There is a brilliance to this discomfort, allowing readers to sit with it and learn.
The illustrations honest and simple, portraying the love among the family, even when his sister leaves for the United States. The focus on the people allows the illustrations to move beyond the desolate border and into the people being impacted.
An important middle-grade graphic novel that will inspire thought and discussion. Appropriate for ages 9-12.
Garlic works at the farm market with the other living vegetables brought to life by the witch. Garlic tends to stressed and anxious, and is even more so when she accidentally sleeps in again on market day. The next day, the witch encourages Garlic to try using some magic to get her garlic to grow, encouraging Garlic to look beyond helping her in the garden too. But Garlic doesn’t want adventures at all, she’s much happier staying on the farm. So when a vampire moves into the abandoned castle nearby, it seems that Garlic is exactly the right one to send to get rid of him. After all, vampires can’t abide garlic.
This debut graphic novel for children is a look at anxiety and stress, all in one garlicky wrapper. With one bully on the farm to contend with, Garlic can’t seem to see the kindness of the others around her, instead getting fretful, sleeping too much, and doubting her own abilities. When she is sent on her mission, she finds her footing and eventually takes care of it in her own special way, making the ending satisfying on multiple levels.
The art style is unique and is something that will draw readers into the story. It has a great vintage feel to it from the classic vampire to the vegetables themselves. The humanoid veggies are marvelous characters, their emotions clear on both their faces and in their body language. The book plays characters that one might be afraid of against their tropes, showing dimensions to them in inventive ways both in the storyline and in the images.
A cozy graphic novel full of witches and vampires. Appropriate for ages 9-12.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Quill Tree Books.
Waking Brain Cells 