Graphic novels are a great way to get reluctant readers to pick up a book; from Dog Man to Alex Rider, they have kick-started many reading journeys. So I decided to try a few I hadn’t read yet for our newest review selection.
All entries in this round-up are illustrated in full colour.
For those of you who like their stories zany in the vein of Dog Man or Captain Underpants, InvestiGators by John Patrick Green (published by First Second Books) might be just what you’re looking for!
Mango and Brash are the InvestiGators and yes, they are Alligator Special Agents with waistcoats full of gadgets.
Their newest mission is to find Chef Gustavo who disappeared before he could show off his latest creation to the world, but along the way they also have an exploding Science Factory to deal with.
Can they solve the mysteries and wrap up both cases?
The first volume in an ongoing series, InvestiGators is a fun romp, with a little bit of toilet humour (but not too much!), and a great head for puns and ‘dad jokes’. The text can get a little chaotic at times, but this just means that it’s worth a second read to pick up everything you might have previously missed. The art itself is clear and easy to follow, and budding artists will appreciate the drawing tips at the end.
With 5 follow-up books to enjoy, there’s plenty of cases to sink your teeth into!
Mega Robo Bros: Power Up by Neill Cameron (published by David Fickling Books) is the first in a series about robot brothers, Alex and Freddy.
Set in London sometime in the future, the boys live with a normal family, go to a normal school, and bicker and fight like normal brothers. But their normal lives change forever when the exhibits on a school trip come to life, endangering them and their classmates, and forcing the boys to use their not-so-normal skills.
Who or what is the mysterious Robot 23 and what is his ultimate goal?
Power Up is an exciting, high-octane adventure, and its characters are surprisingly relatable given that they are…well, robots. Cameron throws together the familiarity of childhood issues with a fantastical main storyline, and it’s a joy to see how the two brothers approach them with their different personalities.
With illustrated tutorials in the back so you can draw your own Alex and Freddy, this new version of the book (it was originally published in 2017) brings new colour, a new layout, and a new size that really makes the book stand out. The fourth book just came out this past August, so there’s plenty more robo-adventures to catch up on!
Finally, it’s always nice to see comic books aimed at younger readers and, like the Narwahl and Jelly books, this series is about two good but unalike friends, Bumble and Snug who are ‘Bugbops’.
In Bumble & Snug and the Angry Pirates by Mark Bradley (published by Hachette Children’s Group), we are introduced to the two characters and how their different personalities both clash, and complement each other.
Bumble is enthusiastic and noisy, and sometimes gets so excited that she forgets things. Meanwhile, Snug loves helping and learning new things, and sometimes gets anxious and scared. Both friends love adventures though, and it’s when they get lost on their way to the countryside that the adventure really begins.
The story shows how working together can get things done, and that the emotions you feel may not always be for the most obvious reasons. It also illustrates how to care for each other, even when we experience and feel things very differently.
With instructions on how to create your own Bugbop at the back of the book, together with suggestions for what to do if you feel angry, this fun book will appeal to girls and boys alike. The second book, Bumble & Snug and the Excited Unicorn is out now, and focuses on how to deal with over-excitement. Stories explaining emotions will always be useful for young readers, and we think Bumble and Snug do a great job!
If you like the look of any of the books we’ve talked about, you can grab a copy at the links above.
(Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.)
If you’re looking for more books for reluctant readers, you can check out some of our other reviews at the links provided!
