Best Comic Books for Kids
Photo Courtesy of János Venczák on Unsplash
I started reading comics when I was very young. I read the Sunday comics in my local newspaper first, and eventually, I started to collect books of newspaper comic strips. To this day, my copies of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes and The Complete Far Side sit proudly on one of my many bookshelves. As I grew older, I started to read more mature comics, such as graphic novels. In college, I discovered the diverse world of Japanese graphic novels called Manga. My love for comics has spanned my entire life.
Unfortunately, comics tend to get a bad rep. They’re often seen as “not real books” and as a waste of time to read. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Comics can have complicated and diverse storylines that are interesting and engaging to kids and adults. We can gain just as much from stories told in comic form as ones told in text form.
Comics are a great way to get kids interested in reading. The combination of pictures displaying action and text serving as dialogue can make it easier for visual learners to follow a storyline, and comics are just plain fun. Below you’ll find my comic recommendations for kids. These are the stories that touched my life as a child, and I hope they can do the same for your family too!
1. BONE, Jeff Smith (Grades 4-8, Scholastic)
2. Smile, Riana Telmieger (Grades 3-7, Scholastic)
3. Amulet series, Kazu Kibuishi (Grades 3-7, Scholastic)
4. Garfield, Jim Davis (age 6+, common sense media)
5. Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
6. Cardboard, Doug TenNaple
7. Ghostopolis, Doug TenNaple
If you don’t want to buy these books, you can try finding them at your local library!
Scot Oppenlander is a senior at Brigham Young University-Idaho studying communication with a journalism emphasis. He is about to begin the last semester of his Bachelor's degree, and he is currently applying to law school.