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 May 18, 2024
LINCC (Libraries in Clackamas County)Oregon City Public Library
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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)

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 ManThis New York Times bestselling illustrated series is perfect for fans of Dog Man and Captain Underpants.They sound like bad guys, they look like bad...
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)
Eva's treetop festival
Elliott, Rebecca
Paper Book
This adorable early chapter book series is perfect for young girls who love friendship stories starring animal characters!This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line called Branches, which is aimed at newly independent readers. Eva gets in over her head when she offers to organize a...
A young owl keeps a diary full of doodles and comics recounting her efforts to plan a festival for her treetop community. All of the Scholastic Branches series are fantastic for engaging newly independent readers with a mixture of text and colorful illustration. (Bridging Fiction Grades 2-4)
The strange case of Origami Yoda
Angleberger, Tom
Paper Book
In this funny, uncannily wise portrait of the dynamics of a sixth-grade class and of the greatness that sometimes comes in unlikely packages, Dwight, a loser, talks to his classmates via an origami finger puppet of Yoda. If that weren't strange enough, the puppet is uncannily wise and prescient....

When a quirky classmate's origami Yoda finger puppet begins dispensing surprisingly good advice, a group of middle schoolers keep an illustrated casebook as they investigate whether or not Yoda's spirit is speaking through Dwight's finger. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Accidental trouble magnet
Mian, Zanib
Paper Book
An exciting middle-grade debut starring a Muslim boy with a huge imagination. An NPR Best Book of the Year. Welcome to the imaginative brain of Omar! Omar and his family have just moved, and he is NOT excited about starting at a new school. What if the work is too...

This British import features spunky Omar, who struggles with bullying and fitting in when his Muslim family moves to a new town. (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)

Lucky scramble
Raymundo, Peter
Paper Book
Six competitive cubers face off at the Speed Cubing national championships in this graphic novel that's perfect for fans of Roller Girl and the Last Kids on Earth series. Despite qualifying for the Speed Cubing National Championships in Las Vegas, twelve-year-old Tyler...

A full color graphic novel hybrid with multi-page comics-style sequences mixed with longer blocks of text, great for readers who need a little more visual support as they build their text stamina. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Dork diaries : tales from a not-so-fabulous life
Russell, Rachel Renee.
Paper Book
Nikki Maxwell is starting eighth grade at a new school--and her very first diary is packed with hilarious stories and art in this SUPER SQUEE updated edition of the first book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dork Diaries series! Nikki confesses all in her first diary...

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)

Locker hero
Russell, Rachel Renée.
Paper Book
Meet Max Crumbly in this series from #1 New York Times bestselling Dork Diaries author Rachel René​e Russell! Max Crumbly is about to face the scariest place he's ever been: South Ridge Middle School. There's a lot that's great about his...

A formerly homeschooled middle schooler uses his favorite superheroes as inspiration while dealing with bullying and other challenges during his first year of public school. (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)

Meet me on Mercer Street
Vivat, Booki
Paper Book
Harriet the Spy meets Front Desk in this funny, surprising graphic novel by Booki Vivat, author-illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Frazzled series. Aspiring artist Kacie spends most of her time on Mercer Street with her best friend, Nisha, people...
A young teen keeps a diary as she investigates her best friend's disappearance and the changes in her neighborhood after a summer away, and experiences the effects of gentrification first hand. Color illustrations and full-page comics-style flashback make this an appealing choice for readers just transitioning into chapter books. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)
Lights, camera, middle school!
Holm, Jennifer L.
Paper Book
Watch out, middle school! Babymouse graduates from graphic novels in the first of the Babymouse Tales from the Locker series--now in paperback!   For Babymouse, middle school is like a monster movie. You can never be sure who's a friend and who's an enemy, and the halls are filled...
Readers who loved the small, single-color Babymouse graphic novels about the character's elementary school days can move on with her to middle school in this graphic novel hybrid series. (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)

Harriet the invincible
Vernon, Ursula
Paper Book
Sleeping Beauty gets a feisty, furry twist in this hilarious new comic series from the creator of Dragonbreath Harriet Hamsterbone is not your typical princess. She may be quite stunning in the rodent realm (you'll have to trust her on this one), but she is not so great at...
A fun take on Sleeping Beauty with a twist--the princess is a hamster! After taking advantage of her curse with years of cliff-diving and other adrenaline-fueled adventures, Princess Harriet grudging returns home to meet her destiny as her 16th birthday approaches. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

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