Children's Book Suggestions | Graphic Novel Hybrids

What do you do with a kid who loves graphic novels but struggles with the transition to text-based chapter books? Try some graphic novel hybrids! These books use a mix of traditional text passages and comic-style illustrations. This helps kids build up their stamina for longer passages of text and harnesses the power of sequential art in reading comprehension.

Graphic novel hybrids aren't the only strategies for engaging readers who struggle with long blocks of text. Additional strategies include:

  • Novels in verse pair plenty of white space with age-appropriate topics, making complex stories with rich vocabularies more accessible to striving readers.
  • Digital audiobooks from Libby can be paired with print books (with narration slowed to match the reader's speed if necessary) or with fidgets, crafts, or coloring for kids whose concentration benefits from a kinetic focus.
  • For readers who thrive with the support of dyslexia-friendly fonts, our Libby e-books can be read with OpenDyslexic.
Updated July 25, 2025
LINCC (Libraries in Clackamas County) Oregon City Public Library
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Children's Book Suggestions | Graphic Novel Hybrids

What do you do with a kid who loves graphic novels but struggles with the transition to text-based chapter books? Try some graphic novel hybrids! These books use a mix of traditional text passages and comic-style illustrations. This helps kids build up their stamina for longer passages of text and harnesses the power of sequential art in reading comprehension.

Graphic novel hybrids aren't the only strategies for engaging readers who struggle with long blocks of text. Additional strategies include:

  • Novels in verse pair plenty of white space with age-appropriate topics, making complex stories with rich vocabularies more accessible to striving readers.
  • Digital audiobooks from Libby can be paired with print books (with narration slowed to match the reader's speed if necessary) or with fidgets, crafts, or coloring for kids whose concentration benefits from a kinetic focus.
  • For readers who thrive with the support of dyslexia-friendly fonts, our Libby e-books can be read with OpenDyslexic.
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The Bad Guys
Blabey, Aaron
Paper Book
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE! "I wish I'd had these books as a kid. Hilarious!" -- Dav Pilkey, creator of Captain Underpants and Dog Man This New York Times bestselling illustrated series is perfect for fans of Dog Man and Captain Underpants. They sound like bad guys,...
Tired of being stereotyped as villains, five animal predators team up to liberate the local animal shelter with hilarious results. (Bridging Fiction Grades 2-4)
The last kids on Earth
Brallier, Max
Paper Book
A Netflix Original series! The first book in the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling series, with over 7 million copies in print! "Terrifyingly fun! Delivers big thrills and even bigger laughs."--Jeff Kinney, author of the #1 ...

A group of middle schoolers team up to fight monsters after the zombie apocalypse hits their town in this horror-comedy for young readers who like fast-paced action and cool fight scenes. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Gabby Torres gets a billion followers
Dominguez, Angela
Paper Book
A new series that's perfect for emerging readers who love graphic novels and are ready to read chapter books! Join Gabby as she navigates the inevitable disasters of fourth grade and social media. Gabby Torres is nine years old and ready to conquer the world. She...

A 9-year-old struggles with friendship and social media boundaries when she tries to impress her fellow environment club members by starting a social media page for the club. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

The 13-story treehouse
Griffiths, Andy
Paper Book
Andy and Terry live in a treehouse. But it's not just any old treehouse, it's the most amazing treehouse in the world! This treehouse has thirteen stories, a bowling alley, a see-through swimming pool, a secret underground laboratory, and a marshmallow machine that follows you around...

Shenanigans ensue when Andy and Terry, who live in the world's most amazing treehouse, brainstorm a variety of a wacky plot threads they could use for their book. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Diary of a wimpy kid : Greg Heffley's journal
Kinney, Jeff
Paper Book
Boys don't keep diaries--or do they? The launch of an exciting and innovatively illustrated new series narrated by an unforgettable kid every family can relate to It's a new school year, and Greg Heffley finds himself thrust into middle school, where...

The O.G. graphic novel hybrid that proved this format was a winning formula for engaging young readers! Greg Heffley chronicles his sixth grade year in this mix of text and cartoon illustrations about the highs and many, many lows of middle school. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Big Nate : in a class by himself
Peirce, Lincoln.
Paper Book
Now an animated series from Paramount + & Nickelodeon! For fans of the hilarious Diary of a Wimpy Kid series: Get ready to meet Big Nate! In the very first novel in the New York Times bestselling series, Big Nate is in a class by himself! Nate knows he's meant for big...

Based on Lincoln Peirce's long-running comic series, the first book in this series features a disorganized sixth grader Nate, whose unshakeable confidence gets him into all sorts of trouble following a fortune cookie promising that he will surpass all others. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Diario de una dork. 1, Crónicas de una vida muy poco glamorosa
Russell, Rachel Renée
Paper Book
Nikki Maxwell está comenzando el octavo grado en una nueva escuela, y su primer diario está repleto de historias divertidas. Primer volumen de la serie «Diario de una Dork», el diario en el que Nikki le da vueltas a todo... Cuando el padre de Nikki es contratado...

An art-loving middle schooler keeps a diary chronicling her transition to a new school at the start of eighth grade. A great choice for girls struggling to navigate middle school drama and other confusing social dynamics. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Invisible Emmie
Libenson, Terri
Paper Book
This is the story of two totally different middle school girls-- quiet, shy, artistic Emmie popular, outgoing, athletic Katie --and how their lives unexpectedly intersect one day, when an embarrassing note falls into the wrong hands. . . . All the crushes, humiliations...

Two middle schoolers, one popular and the other painfully shy, navigate loneliness and first crushes in the first book of the Emmie & Friends series. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

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