A Trusted Friend in a Complicated World
Updated Aug. 19, 2024
This list of the best graphic novels for teens includes fantasy, horror, romance and diverse coming-of-age stories for teens finding their way
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As exciting as it is to create your own mental pictures while you’re reading a book, it’s also interesting to see an artist’s interpretation of the story. And while younger children have picture books, there are also plenty of great graphic novels for teens that combine compelling narratives with attention-grabbing illustrations.
Whether you’ve been reading YA graphic novels for decades or are new to the genre, you may be looking for a few recommendations. The following selections represent the best graphic novels for teens based on popularity and sales, as well as classics and must-reads chosen by a children’s librarian (look for the Reader’s Digest Librarian’s Pick seal). Most importantly, like all the best books, these graphic novels showcase a wide range of diverse stories, characters and perspectives for readers to explore.
Ready to get sucked into a story (or several)? Here are dozens of graphic novels for teens that you’ll want to add to your reading list.
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For fans of: Fake Dates and Moon Cakes by Sher Lee
Heartstopper is a fantastic place to start if you’re a graphic-novel lover looking for joyful depictions of queer romance. Things aren’t always easy for Nick (a cheerful rugby player) and Charlie (a gay and bullied teen), but their friendship is beautiful to see, especially as it grows into something deeper. This story will fill your heart as Nick, Charlie and their group of friends navigate queer teenhood. They often struggle with relatable and common teen issues, but some themes could be considered too mature for those under 14.
Oseman launched Heartstopper as a webcomic in 2016, self-published it in 2018 before landing a publishing deal and is the creative force behind an immensely popular Netflix TV series adaptation that explores her heartwarming graphic novel for teens.
“Heartstopper has become even more of a sensation since the Netflix show released, but the warm arms of the graphic novels have grabbed my heart forever,” says Rachel Strolle, a children’s librarian and teen services coordinator in the Chicago area. “A pitch for the series can never fully encapsulate my love for the entire world Oseman has created—I am Tao’s No. 1 fan, thank you so much for asking—and I am not shocked that something so lovely has made its way into so many lives.”
For fans of: The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
A 2003 classic, The Complete Persepolis is a great pick for teens who love world history or memoirs. Marjane Satrapi tells the story of growing up as a young girl in Tehran, Iran, during the Islamic Revolution. She deals with both things teens should never face and things teens deal with every day. This is not your typical teen memoir; it has a perspective you rarely get to experience, and it won’t be like anything else you’ve ever read.
For fans of: Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol
This One Summer will greatly resonate with those who are, or remember being, a young teen girl learning what it means to be a woman in our world. Rose’s parents are fighting on summer vacation, so she and her younger friend, Windy, spend their time outside the house, interacting with the world and learning from it. This is not a story about overcoming fantastical obstacles but rather about how we become who we are and how we form our beliefs at early ages. It’s a beautiful example of the art of subtle fiction.
Fans of Mariko Tamaki’s better-known work, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, should give this a go as well. Illustrated by Jillian Tamaki, this YA graphic novel was published in 2014 and crowned both a Caldecott Honor Book and Michael L. Printz Honor Book the following year.
For fans of: A Bucket of Stars by Suri Rosen
If you’re looking for a fantasy world that leans away from typically Western ideals, this hero’s journey is for you. The 2022 Harvey Award winner takes inspiration from Jordan during the Turkish Ottoman Empire. It follows Aiza, who hopes to gain full citizenship the only way she can as an Ornu minority in the fictional Bayt-Sajji empire: knighthood. She must keep her identity a secret while risking her life to fight for a country that doesn’t value her heritage.
“My favorite book released in 2022, Squire is not just a gorgeous and flawless marriage of word and art but also a timeless conversation about belonging, propaganda and systemic oppression,” Strolle says. “I think it’s a basically perfect book and a must for every bookshelf. Truly, just typing this sentence out is giving me the urge to hop over to my bookshelf and reread it.”
For fans of: The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz
Prince by day, lady by night. Sebastian’s secret life of glamour and fashion as Lady Crystallia is hard to hide while his parents look for his future bride. His only saving grace is his best friend and unbelievably talented dressmaker, Frances. But Frances has dreams of greatness for herself, and they’re being threatened in the shadow of the prince’s secret. Lady Crystallia can’t hide forever, either. Teens who love romance, fashion, books about friendship and secret adventures will be thrilled with The Prince and the Dressmaker, a coming-of-age tale published in 2018.
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For fans of: Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
For teens looking for a more serious read, this 2015 adaptation of Walter Dean Myers’s famous novel will leave you with lots of questions about the world and how we treat the people in it, especially BIPOC individuals and those in the criminal justice system. Unlike most graphic novels for teens, this adaptation features black-and-white illustrations, appropriate for the subject matter.
For those unfamiliar with Myers’s award-winning novel, it tells the story of Steve Harmon, a 16-year-old on trial for murder. What does it mean to come of age through a criminal trial? How do you figure out who you are when everyone is calling you something guilty, innocent or a monster? Meyers published his book in 1999, more than a decade before Guy Sims and illustrator Dawud Anyabwile adapted it into a graphic novel.
For fans of: The Tea Dragon Society by Kay O’Neill
Mooncakes is that spellbinding, magical-girl queer romance you’ve been looking for. “Cozy fantasy is having a moment right now, and Mooncakes definitely fits into that delightful subgenre,” Strolle says. Nova Huang works in her grandma’s bookstore—where they also loan out spell books to the customers who know to ask. Her childhood crush, Tam, has been on the run for years as a werewolf but is back for Nova’s help. The Huang family must come together to save them and their wolf magic before darker intentions prevail. This fantasy book, illustrated by Wendy Xu, was published in 2019.
“In my office, to this day, I have a piece of fan art that one of my library teens drew of Nova after I recommended the book to them and they read it in a day,” Strolle says. “It’s the only piece of art I’ve been gifted from a teen following a book I recommended to them, so it’s always going to be the most special for that reason.”
For fans of: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki
In Kevin Panetta’s YA graphic novel, illustrated by Savanna Ganucheau and published in 2013, two boys fall in love in a bakery. Ari hopes to move to the city with his band, but first, he has to teach Hector how to bake. As Ari starts to unfold the truth of who Hector is and why he’s spending so much time in the bakery, Hector becomes an unexpected complication in Ari’s plans. Bloom is about learning who we are despite who we want to be and realizing what grows when we aren’t necessarily looking. Graphic novels for teens aren’t always this subtle yet powerful, and this is a great choice as a beach read as well.
For fans of: The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen
This 2015 page-turner tells the story of a group of girls who deliver newspapers and get sucked into a whirlwind of interdimensional time travel. Action-packed, plot-focused and sci-fi heavy, Paper Girls is one of the best graphic novels for teens who adore Star Wars (even though it doesn’t take place in a galaxy far, far away). It comes with a list of impressive accolades: multiple Eisner awards, a Harvey and plenty of nominations and shortlists. The graphic novel is illustrated by Cliff Chang, colored by Matt Wilson and lettered by Jared K. Fletcher—and is the must-read basis for the Amazon Prime TV series of the same name.
For fans of: The Greatest Thing by Sarah Winifred Searle
Mads has a lot going on: her father has a secret, and she’s realized she wants to kiss her best friend. She’ll discover a lot more in the span of the book as the story explores the trials of teen sexuality. Mads deals with crushes and friendship struggles while uncovering family secrets both past and present to learn where she comes from—and maybe even who she is. Published in 2019, Kiss Number 8 was long-listed for the National Book Award and a finalist for an Eisner.
For fans of: First Test: Protector of the Small by Tamora Pierce
What started out as a webcomic has been transformed into a print novel with updated art and an expanded storyline, published in August 2024. Set against the backdrop of urban Los Aguaceros, Hovergirls introduces readers to two cousins—with opposite personalities—who move into a new city in the hopes of starting new lives. When a mysterious incident on a local beach bestows magical powers upon them, they decide to put these gifts to use (a wise choice once monsters begin attacking their new home turf). Readers get to go along for the joy ride that becomes both exhilarating and dangerous.
For fans of: The Deep & Dark Blue by Nikki Smith
Sanja and Lelek are different: Sanja is a fighter; Lelek is a witch. They don’t understand each other at first, but as they set off on a quest together, they start to learn about, and from, each other. Fighting turns to friendship. Friendship turns to something more. While they don’t start as nemeses, they’re far enough from friends or companions that Witchlight will appeal to readers who gobble up books featuring the enemies-to-lovers trope. Published in 2020, this graphic novel for teens is a queer story about coming of age by finding your own way in the world.
For fans of: Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann
If you’re looking for a Halloween read, this spooky anthology published in 2014 is perfect. Emily Carroll gives readers five glorious stories in this series, including her immensely popular webcomic “His Face All Red.” They range in length but never in horror. Whether you fear strangers or worry something strange lies in those close to you, you’ll be holding your pillow close to your chest at night. You might not want to read this one before bed.
For fans of: The Tea Dragon Society by Kay O’Neill
This 2015 graphic novel is a high-fantasy queer epic for the ages. Nimona, a shapeshifter, forcibly befriends Lord Ballister Blackheart and convinces him to mentor her in villainy. While their mission to take down the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics seems villainous at first, the labels villain and hero (and who decides what those mean) become questionable. And Nimona, who at one point simply seemed impulsive, may have a fire within her more dangerous than Ballister first anticipated.
“I am definitely a person that will say ‘LOL’ out loud instead of actually laughing, but Nimona made me actually laugh out loud,” says Strolle. “In the time since Nimona first released, I’ve become a huge fan of ND Stevenson and everything they’ve created, but I still have such a huge spot in my heart for this aspiring supervillain sidekick. Truly funny, heartfelt and wonderfully designed, it’s an all-time favorite.”
For fans of: Almost American Girl by Robin Ha
In this 2019 graphic novel that melds time travel and historical fiction, Kiku finds herself sent back in time to a World War II Japanese internment camp. There, she learns the history of her family firsthand—especially her grandmother, who is imprisoned in the same internment camp. Author Kiku Hughes portrays the horror of this moment in American history and the resilient community (and family) formed under the circumstances of racist imprisonment. An Eisner Award nominee, Displacement earned the title of one of the New York Public Library’s Best Books of the Year.
For fans of: Treasure in the Lake by Jason Pamment
Morgan, a Korean Canadian 15-year-old, dreams of escaping the claustrophobia of people’s expectations for her, not to mention the crushing weight of her biggest secret: that she likes girls. Then she’s saved from drowning by a selkie (a seal person from Celtic mythology) named Keltie—and she’s cute! They become friends (and more) as Morgan struggles to open up, as it’s the only way she can help Keltie save her habitat. Molly Knox Ostertag’s 2021 graphic novel, The Girl from the Sea, is heartwarming, heartbreaking and overall an excellent LGBTQ+ book for teens stuck between the fear of judgment and the truth of who they are.
For fans of: In Real Life by Cory Doctorow
Anya is just a normal girl from an immigrant family, struggling with fitting in. Of course, most normal girls don’t fall down a well and come back out with a new friend—one who’s been dead for a while. But Anya figures a ghost friend is better than none. Things, however, may not be what they seem in 2011’s Anya’s Ghost. If you’re a fan of Wednesday Addams, this spooky story is one of the best YA graphic novels for you.
For fans of: Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam by Thien Pham
In this 2006 Printz- and Eisner-winning book, Gene Luen Yang flawlessly ties three seemingly separate tales—a bullied young kid from a Chinese family falling in love with an American girl, a monkey who wants to be a god and a kid who hates his cousin for being a “Chinese stereotype”—into a story about identity, belonging and community. If you’ve never read American Born Chinese, you’re missing out on a seminal YA graphic novel.
For fans of: On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden
For fans of fairy tales, this 2020 graphic novel is hard to beat. Tien wants to tell his family he’s gay, but their language difference creates a barrier he can only cross through the Vietnamese fairy tales he gets from the library. How do you speak the truth when you don’t have the words to say it? This graphic novel touches on self-expression and how generational differences between loved ones can create obstacles to connection.
“Anyone who asks me about my favorite graphic novels likely isn’t expecting me to immediately lecture about the usage of color in specific graphic novels and the power colors convey when used as a method of storytelling,” says Strolle. “But often, that’s what happens, especially when I get to talk about The Magic Fish, which uses different colors to show past, present and story. I feel like I could make several different presentations just about this book and the delicate way the color impacts the audience.”
For fans of: Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu
Olympic hopefuls are at the heart of I Felt Myself Slipping, which centers on Riley, a hard-of-hearing, high-ranking gymnast who struggles to fit in and make friends with her new team. When fellow gymnast Kota befriends her and makes an effort to learn ASL so they can communicate, Riley is awestruck. Kota, who has her own struggles with anxiety, is intent on qualifying for the Olympics but must also remain true to her new gymnast friend. Available on Sept. 10, 2024, this coming-of-age story by former competitive gymnast Ray Nadine features a compelling narrative about the delicate balancing act of striving for success and sustaining friendship.
For fans of: Firebird by Sunmi
If you’re interested in sports fiction, look no further than A Map to the Sun. Sloane Leong has created a vibrant and colorful novel centering a girls’ basketball team and a complicated friendship between main characters Luna and Ren. After Luna moves to Hawaii and ghosts Ren, Ren is hesitant to let her old friend back into her life—she’s got her own issues to deal with, after all. This 2020 graphic novel is a dynamic story about how trust can affect everything, both on and off the court.
For fans of: Coming Back by Jessi Zabarsky
The Sacrifice of Darkness expands and adapts Roxane Gay’s short story “We Are the Sacrifice of Darkness.” The 2020 graphic novel is an epic journey of fixing the world after previous generations have left it (pun intended) in the dark. After Joshua’s father flies into the sun and puts it out, he and his mother are shunned from society, and he sets off to find answers and fix his father’s mistake in the sky. Illustrated by Rebecca Kirby, this is a story in which love and hope shine the brightest in the dark.
For fans of: Saving Hamlet by Molly Booth
A shy and lonely girl takes solace in admiring young actors and pop stars from afar. But when Erika changes schools and develops a serious crush on Christian, a boy in her theater class, her obsession opens the door to something more meaningful. The two become friends, and when Christian agrees to star in a play that she wrote for him, Erika wonders if a romance can possibly triumph over her nagging doubts. Anyone who has ever longed to write their own friends-to-lovers story will surely relate to Please Be My Star, a heart-pounding tale from author-illustrator Victoria Grace Elliott, due out on Oct. 1, 2024.
For fans of: Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
Going off to college is both exciting and nerve-racking—and this couldn’t be more true for Sarah, a small-town girl from Wisconsin leaving for school in Minnesota. While she can’t wait to make new friends and meet new people, Sarah is anxious about leaving her boyfriend and her friends from home behind. Published in 2024 and based on the author’s college journal and drawings, Freshman Year celebrates the growing pains of putting your best foot forward without forgetting where you came from.
For fans of: Icebreaker by A.L. Graziadei
Chase, the 13-year-old goalie on his hockey team, is trying to make sense of growing up. The Indigenous teen can’t understand why he doesn’t like girls the way that his teammates do and is afraid to let them know how he really feels. But when he dreams of a bear spirit, signaling trouble, Chase realizes that hiding from the truth makes for disastrous consequences.
This deeply moving story, which hits shelves on Sept. 10, 2024, casts a light on toxic masculinity and homophobia in a culturally diverse environment. Readers who identify with Chase’s struggles may find solace and comfort in these pages, illustrated by Alice RL. With its younger protagonist, this is a great pick for younger teens (and tweens).
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At Reader’s Digest, we’ve been sharing our favorite books for over 100 years. We’ve worked with bestselling authors including Susan Orlean, Janet Evanovich and Alex Haley, whose Pulitzer Prize–winning Roots grew out of a project funded by and originally published in the magazine. Through Fiction Favorites (formerly Select Editions and Condensed Books), Reader’s Digest has been publishing anthologies of abridged novels for decades. We’ve worked with some of the biggest names in fiction, including James Patterson, Ruth Ware, Kristin Hannah and more. The Reader’s Digest Book Club, helmed by Books Editor Tracey Neithercott, introduces readers to even more of today’s best fiction by upcoming, bestselling and award-winning authors. To ensure that all information is accurate and offers the best possible advice to readers, we verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Originally Published: December 30, 2022
