The American Library Association’s Young Adult Library Services Association has released its 2007 list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens.
The 67 titles were selected by an 11-member committee from a pool of 141 nominations. The books, recommended for ages 12 to 18, represent a fairly wide range of publishers, from DC Comics, Marvel and Tokyopop to AiT/PlanetLar, Drawn & Quarterly and NBM. Mainstream publishing houses like Ballantine, Harper Collins, Henry Holt and Simon & Schuster are also represented.
Blogger David Welsh, who provides a breakdown of how each publisher performed, notes that Marvel had the most books, with 10, while DC had the most titles, with nine. The full list of the 2007 Great Graphic Novels for Teens can be found here.
The YALSA committee also selected from among the Great Graphic Novels a Top 10 list of titles that “teens are sure to love”:
Nextwave, Agents of H.A.T.E., Vol. 1, by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen (Marvel)
Sloth, by Gilbert Hernandez and Jared K. Fletcher (DC/Vertigo)
Castle Waiting, by Linda Medley (Fantagraphics Books)
Identity Crisis, by Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales (DC Comics)
Death Note, Vols. 1-3, by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata (Viz Media)
Runaways, Vols. 4-6, by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona (Marvel)
Pride of Baghdad, by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon (DC/Vertigo)
Death Jr., by Greg Whitta and Ted Naifeh (Image Comics)
Demo: The Collection, by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan (AiT/PlanetLar)
American Born Chinese, by Gene Yang and Lark Pien (Roaring Brook Press/First Second)
“We are very proud of how this list came together,” committee chair Dawn Rutherford said in the press release. “This is an exciting time for graphic novel publishing and it is wonderful to be a part of the first ALA division to recognize this growing field of literature.”
