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 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)
Bad Kitty does not like Valentine's Day.
Bruel, Nick
Paper Book
New York Times-bestselling author/illustrator Nick Bruel's naughty feline is back in the holiday adventure Bad Kitty Does Not Like Valentine's Day. Kitty does not like Valentine's Day. Because no one has given Kitty a Valentine. Maybe to get a Valentine,...

Bad Kitty makes her chapter book debut in this humorous "instructional guide" for bathing your cat. (Bridging Fiction Grades 2-4)

Eva's treetop festival
Elliott, Rebecca
Paper Book
This adorable New York Times bestselling early chapter book series is perfect for young girls who love friendship stories starring animal characters! Pick a book. Grow a Reader! This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line called Branches, which is aimed at...
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)

Big Nate in a class by himself.
Peirce, Lincoln.
Paper Book

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)

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, 1961-
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)

Stick dog.
Watson, Tom (Children's story writer)
Paper Book
Introducing everyone's new best friend: Stick Dog! Don't miss the very first book in this bestselling funny illustrated series. He'll make you laugh...he'll make you cry...but above all, he'll make you hungry! Follow Stick Dog as he goes on an epic quest for the perfect burger. With...

Put forth as an elementary school student's creative writing assignment, each book in this series follows the adventures of Stick Dog and his fellow stray dogs as they go in search of their favorite things in the world: people food. (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)
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)

Invisible Emmie. [graphic novel]
Libenson, Terri
Paper Book
Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Jennifer L. Holm, Invisible Emmie is a humorous and surprising debut graphic novel by Terri Libenson, creator of the internationally syndicated, Reuben Award-winning comic strip The Pajama Diaries. This is the story of two totally different girls--...

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)

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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