Reading Recommendations

A former yakuza legend leaves it all behind to become your everyday househusband. But it’s not easy to walk away from the gangster life, and what should be mundane household tasks are anything but!

(Volumes 1-5 held at Houff Library).

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. He feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.

(Omnibus volumes 1-7 held at Houff Library).

In elementary school, Shoya Ishida led his peers in tormenting a classmate who couldn't hear, Shoko Nishimiya. When Shoko transfers schools, Shoya finds he has gone from bully to bullied, and he's left completely alone. Six years later, Shoya struggles to redeem himself in Shoko's eyes and to face the classmates who turned on him.

(Volumes 1-7 held at Houff Library).

Rangetsu’s twin brother was ripped from her arms and sent to the palace to serve as a beast-servant--a status symbol and shield for royal masters--where he quickly fell victim to bloody dynastic intrigues. In a world that promises only bitterness, Rangetsu’s one hope at avenging her brother is to disguise herself as a man and find a way into the palace!

(Volumes 1-3 held at Houff Library).

Denji’s a poor young man who’ll do anything for money, even hunting down devils with his pet devil Pochita. He’s a simple man with simple dreams, drowning under a mountain of debt. But his sad life gets turned upside down one day when he’s betrayed by someone he trusts. Now with the power of a devil inside him, Denji’s become a whole new man—Chainsaw Man!

(Volumes 1-14 are held at Houff Library).

Watching the news, Hanagaki Takemichi learns his junior-high girlfriend Tachibana Hinata has died. A sudden shove sends him 12 years into the past to face the Tokyo Manji Gang that once made his life hell, which is also responsible for Hinata's death in the present. To save Hinata and change the future, Takemichi must rise to the top of Kanto's most sinister delinquent gang!
(Volumes 1-16 held at Houff Library).

For eons, humans ruled the natural world. But a century ago, everything changed when the Titans appeared. Today, the threat of the Titans is a distant memory, and a boy named Eren yearns to explore the world beyond the wall. What began as a childish dream will become a nightmare when a Titan finally knocks a hole in the wall, and humanity is once again on the brink of extinction...

(Omnibus volumes 1-34 held at Houff Library).

Teenager Usagi is not the best athlete, she's never gotten good grades, and, well, she's a bit of a crybaby. But when she meets a talking cat, she begins a journey that will teach her she has a well of great strength just beneath the surface and the heart to inspire and stand up for her friends as Sailor Moon! Experience the Sailor Moon manga as never before in these extra-long editions.

(Volumes 1-10 held at Houff Library).

In Taisho-era Japan, kindhearted Tanjiro Kamado makes a living selling charcoal. But his peaceful life is shattered when a demon slaughters his entire family. His sister Nezuko is the only survivor, but she has been transformed into a demon! Tanjiro sets out on a dangerous journey to find a way to return his sister to normal and destroy the demon who ruined his life.

(Volumes 1-23 held at Houff Library).

Four people intent on killing themselves meet through the suicide website Black Paradox: Maruso, a nurse who despairs about the future; Taburo, a man who is tortured by his doppelganger; Pii-tan, an engineer with his own robot clone; and Baracchi, a woman who agonizes about the birthmark on her face. They wander together in search of the perfect death, fatefully opening a door that leads them to a rather bizarre destiny...

Ghouls live among us, the same as normal people in every way--except their craving for human flesh. Ken Kaneki is an ordinary college student until a violent encounter turns him into the first half-human half-ghoul hybrid. Trapped between two worlds, he must survive Ghoul turf wars, learn more about Ghoul society and master his new powers.

(Volumes 1-14 held at Houff Library).

Tsukimi has a strange fascination with jellyfish. She has carried that love with her to her new life in the big city of Tokyo. A chance meeting at a pet shop has Tsukimi crossing paths with one of the things that the residents of Amamizukan have been desperately trying to avoid-a beautiful and fashionable woman! But there's much more to this woman than her trendy clothes!

(Volumes 1-9 held at Houff Library).

Master spy Twilight is unparalleled when it comes to going undercover on dangerous missions for the betterment of the world. Twilight has his work cut out for him procuring both a wife and a child for his mission to infiltrate an elite private school. What he doesn't know is that the wife he's chosen is an assassin and the child he's adopted is a telepath!

(Volumes 1-9 held at Houff Library).

Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the "Fun Home." It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve. In her hands, personal history becomes a work of amazing subtlety and power, written with controlled force and enlivened with humor, rich literary allusion, and heartbreaking detail.

Over 10 years in the making, Anderson's biographical graphic novel has theweight and depth of a lifetime of research. The book is a compelling and oftenmoving narrative of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. Anderson follows Kingfrom boyhood through college and into the stormy civil rights movement. Butwhile the broad narrative of King's life may be familiar, this is hardly aClassic Comics approach to the man. In order to capture the complexity ofKing's life and times, Anderson employs a uniquely multifacted andmultilayered graphic and narrative technique that falls somewhere betweencartooning, painting, collage and documentary photography. It is deeplyeffective. At times, King's life is a straightforward narrative, but then aGreek chorus of voices will interrupt to comment on the action and otherdifferent versions of events. At other crucial moments, the pages errupt intocolor abstractions or expressionist renderings. Anchoring all this dazzlingtechnique is Anderson's acute ear for dialogue and profound understanding of hissubject. In the simplest scenes of King and his colleagues in discussion-in acar, a bar or a living room- Anderson makes history palpable. Through a variedgraphic arsenal and subtle prosse. Anderson's King comes alive.

The dazzling, provocative work of Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) would come to define the vibrant New York art scene of the late '70s and early '80s. Punk, jazz, graffiti, hip-hop: His work drew heavily on the cultural trappings of Lower Manhattan, to which he fled--from Brooklyn--at the age of 15. This stunning graphic novel captures the dramatic life and exhilarating times of this archetypal New York artist, covering everything from the SAMO graffiti project to his first solo show, from his relationship with Andy Warhol to the substance abuse that would cost him his life. Today, Basquiat's influence can be seen not only in fine art but also in fashion, design, and music. Now, for the first time, his remarkable story is told in graphic novel form. This playful, authoritative biography shows Basquiat's work to be more important, his themes more urgent, than ever before.

Equally humorous and horrific, Monsters explores the physical and emotional traumas of learning to live, and love again, with herpes. Gabby Schulz, otherwise known as Ken Dahl, cemented his status among the best cartoonists of his generation with Monsters. The multiple Ignatz Award-winning and Eisner Award-nominated graphic novel returns to print in a larger format with a deluxe, stitched binding. Part autobiography, part deranged educational film strip, Monsters is a brutally honest, frankly hilarious account of life with herpes.

In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns,thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographicalcomic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortablewith strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia's intenselycathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes themortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to comeout to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, andfacing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears. Started as a way toexplain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer ismore than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on genderidentity--what it means and how to think about it--for advocates,friends, and humans everywhere.  

The powerful, unforgettable graphic memoir from Jarrett Krosoczka, about growing up with a drug-addicted mother, a missing father, and two unforgettably opinionated grandparents.In kindergarten, Jarrett Krosoczka's teacher asks him to draw his family, with a mommy and a daddy. But Jarrett's family is much more complicated than that. His mom is an addict, in and out of rehab, and in and out of Jarrett's life. His father is a mystery -- Jarrett doesn't know where to find him, or even what his name is. Jarrett lives with his grandparents -- two very loud, very loving, very opinionated people who had thought they were through with raising children until Jarrett came along.Jarrett goes through his childhood trying to make his non-normal life as normal as possible, finding a way to express himself through drawing even as so little is being said to him about what's going on. Only as a teenager can Jarrett begin to piece together the truth of his family, reckoning with his mother and tracking down his father. Hey, Kiddo is a profoundly important memoir about growing up in a family grappling with addiction, and finding the art that helps you survive.

A brutally moving work of art--widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel ever written--Maus recounts the chilling experiences of the author's father during the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats. Maus is a haunting tale within a tale, weaving the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father into an astonishing retelling of one of history's most unspeakable tragedies. It is an unforgettable story of survival and a disarming look at the legacy of trauma.

Mine Okubo was one of over one hundred thousand people of Japanese descent - nearly two-thirds of whom were American citizens - who were forced into "protective custody" shortly after Pearl Harbor. Citizen 13660, Okubo's graphic memoir of life in relocation centers in California and Utah, illuminates this experience with poignant illustrations and witty, candid text.