Other cultures (YA comics)

Authors from different places offer different perspectives and different ways of telling stories and can give us insights into other cultures.

In this list, we're presenting comics and graphic novels that were written by authors from other parts of the world, and there are a fair few memoirs detailing the authors' personal experiences too.

Updated August 1, 2024
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Wellington City LibrariesYouth team at Wellington City Libraries
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Frontera
Anta, Julio
Paper Book
Mateo makes the dangerous journey back home to the United States through the Sonoran Desert with the help of a new friend, a ghost named Guillermo in a supernatural borderland odyssey by debut graphic novelists Julio Anta and Jacoby Salcedo. As long as he remembers to stay...
Amazona
Canizales
Paper Book
This socially conscious thriller from graphic novelist Canizales examines the injustices of his home country in a stark, distinctive style. Andrea, a young Indigenous Colombian woman, has returned to the land she calls home. Only nineteen years old, she comes to mourn her lost child,...
Messy roots : a graphic memoir of a Wuhanese American
Gao, Laura
Paper Book
"Messy Roots is a laugh-out-loud, heartfelt, and deeply engaging story of their journey to find themself--as an American, as the daughter of Chinese immigrants, as a queer person, and as a Wuhanese American in the middle of a pandemic."--Malaka Gharib, author of I Was Their American...
Almost American girl : an illustrated memoir
Ha, Robin
Paper Book
Harvey Award Nominee, Best Children or Young Adult Book  A powerful and moving teen graphic novel memoir about immigration, belonging, and how arts can save a life--perfect for fans of American Born Chinese and Hey, Kiddo.  For as long as she can remember...
Displacement
Hughes, Kiku
Paper Book
A teenager is pulled back in time to witness her grandmother's experiences in World War II-era Japanese internment camps in Displacement, a historical graphic novel from Kiku Hughes. Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the...
Banned book club
Kim, Hyun Sook
Paper Book
A Junior Library Guild Selection "Highly recommended for readers passionate about activism." -- SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, Starred Review "Sure to inspire today's youthful generation of tenacious changemakers." -- BOOKLIST, Starred Review ...
The magic fish
Nguyen, Trung Le
Paper Book
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR by the New York Public Library.Kirkus Reviews.Booklist.Publishers Weekly Tiến loves his family and his friends...but Tiến has a secret he's been keeping from them, and it might change everything. An amazing YA...
Oxygen mask : a graphic novel
Reynolds, Jason; Griffin, Jason
Ebook
A Caldecott Honor winner! Prepare yourself for something unlike anything: A smash-up of art and text for teens that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America. Right Now. Written by #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds....
The complete Maus
Spiegelman, Art
Paper Book
The definitive edition of the graphic novel acclaimed as "the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust" (Wall Street Journal) and "the first masterpiece in comic book history" (The New Yorker) * PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * One of Variety's "Banned and...
Maus : a survivor's tale
Spiegelman, Art
Paper Book
The definitive edition of the graphic novel acclaimed as "the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust" (Wall Street Journal) and "the first masterpiece in comic book history" (The New Yorker) * PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * One of Variety's "Banned and...
New world
Vignolli, David Jesus
Ebook
Boxers
Yang, Gene Luen
Paper Book
Gene Luen Yang writes, and sometimes draws, comic books and graphic novels. As the Library of Congress's fifth National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, he advocates for the importance of reading, especially reading diversely. His graphic novel American Born Chinese, a...
American born Chinese
Yang, Gene Luen.
Paper Book
Original Series Now Available on Disney+ A tour-de-force by New York Times bestselling graphic novelist Gene Yang, American Born Chinese tells the story of three apparently unrelated characters: Jin Wang, who moves to a new neighborhood with his family only to...

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