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8 Great New Middle Grade Graphic Novels to Put on Your TBR This Winter

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Sarah S. Davis

Staff Writer

Sarah S. Davis holds a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master's of Library Science from Clarion University, and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Sarah has also written for Electric Literature, Kirkus Reviews, Audible, Psych Central, and more. Sarah is the founder of Broke By Books blog and runs a tarot reading business, Divination Vibration. Twitter: @missbookgoddess Instagram: @Sarahbookgoddess

If you or your child are not already a reader of graphic novels, there’s never been a better time to start than now. For picky readers, graphic novels are a great way to engage young audiences with books that require a different skill set with reading. With graphic novels, and their more technical term of “sequential art,” children connect with visual storytelling that complements engrossing stories. The result is a reading experience that helps get kids reading even if they’re struggling with purely textual storytelling.

Thanks to graphic novels, children can fall in love with visual stories that explore themes common to middle grade (age range roughly 8–12 years old) fiction, like fitting in, family issues, bullying, and finding friendships. All of these topics and more are present in middle grade graphic novels for the kids in your life, reluctant readers or not. 

To that end, let’s check out some of the best new middle grade graphic novels to look forward to in winter of 2023. From biographies to fantasy to contemporary stories and everything in between, the eight books listed here are ones that young readers — and curious adults! — will want to check out. The books highlighted in this list are the best of the best new graphic fiction and nonfiction for middle grade readers.

New Middle Grade Graphic Novels Out in Winter 2023

Moon Rising Book Cover

Moon Rising (Wings of Fire Graphic Novel #6) by Tui T. Sutherland and Mike Holmes

Now's a great time to jump in with Tui T. Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series. Enter the story with the sixth graphic novel in the series, Moon Rising. This sweeping fantasy epic with plenty of dragons and fantastical creatures should be on the radar of any serious graphic novel fan who craves epic animal-based fantasy.

Mary Anne's Bad Luck Mystery Book Cover

Mary Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery (The Baby-Sitters Club #13) by Ann M. Martin and Cynthia Yuan Cheng

Join the Baby-Sitters Club with the 13th installment, Mary Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery. This exciting adventure stars Mary Anne, who has recently received a scary chain letter in the mail. Now a string of rotten luck seems to follow Mary Anne and her babysitter friends. Can she find out the truth behind the bad vibes?

History Comics Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin book cover

History Comics: Rosa Parks & Claudette Colvin: Civil Rights Heroes by Tracey Baptise and Shauna J. Grant

Bring history to light in this graphic novel about Civil Rights pioneers Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin. This lively story highlights the important contributions to the Civil Rights Movement by Rosa Parks, whose story of resistance and quest for equality went far behind that historic bus ride, and Claudette Colvin, a similarly bold social justice warrior who was arrested while just a teen for playing a part in the movement

The Knight Blooms Behind Castle Walls book cover

The Knight Blooms Behind Castle Walls Vol. 1 by Masanari Yuduka

This upper middle grade manga follows Rosa, whose deepest desire is to be a knight. Along the way, Rosa must first start out as a squire and do all the dirty jobs to work her way up the ladder. Upbeat and featuring a heroine you can’t help but root for, The Knight Blooms Behind Castle Walls is a fantasy manga your kid won’t want to miss.

Bomb The Race to Build and Steael the World's Most Dangerous Weapon Graphic Novel book cover

Bomb: The Race to Build — And Steal — the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin and Nick Bertozzi (January 24)

This book is a middle grade comics adaptation of the hit book Bomb: the Race to Build — And Steal — the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin. Readers will discover the cut-throat efforts by multiple countries to create the atom bomb. Laced with suspense and intrigue, Bomb is a great book for young history lovers.

Ada Lovelace and the Start of Computers book cover

Ada Lovelace and the Start of Computers by Jordi Bayarri Dolz (February 7)

This graphic biography focuses on the exceptional career of trailblazing mathematician Ada Lovelace. It’s thanks to Lovelace that computers got their start, which you’ll read all about and more in this gorgeously illustrated book that brings a forgotten history to light.

Soaring book cover

Soaring: A Story of Courage by Suneel Ram (February 21)

This uplifting graphic memoir about disability tells the true story of how Suneel Ram used his experiences with Duchene Muscular Dystrophy, a degenerative disease, to educate others on his condition and life in a wheelchair. Told with bold colors and striking illustration, Soaring is a graphic novel all kids will enjoy.

School Trip book cover

School Trip: A Graphic Novel by Jerry Craft (April 4)

The third book in Jerry Craft’s New Kid series focuses on a school trip that hero Jordan and his friend crew embark upon, in this case Paris. The winning combination of hero-you-root-for and engaging storytelling — not to mention amazing artwork — will make this one a graphic novel your young reader will love.

Which of these new middle grade graphic novels are you adding to your TBR?

For more middle grade graphic novel stories on Book Riot, try: