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U.S. Librarians Rank Wandering Son, Bride's Story in Teens' Top 10

The American Library Association's Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) division has released its list of the top 10 graphic novels for teens in 2012. The top 10 choices are culled from a longer list of "Great Graphic Novels for Teens." Two manga titles made the cut for the top 10 this year: Kaoru Mori's A Bride's Story volume 1 from Yen Press, and Takako Shimura's Wandering Son volume 1 from Fantagraphics Books.

YALSA named five more manga titles to its Great Graphic Novels for Teens list:


Gandhi: A Manga Biography
By Kazuki Ebine
Penguin


Blue Exorcist volume 1
By Kazue Katō
Viz Media


Animal Land volume 1
By Makoto Raiku
Kodansha Comics


Kamisama Kiss volumes 1 & 2
Julietta Suzuki
Viz Media


The Story of Saiunkoku volumes 1 & 2
By Sai Yukino and Kairi Yura
Viz Media


The committee also named Mangaman, Barry Lyga and Colleen Doran's graphic novel about a manga character trapped in an American high school in the real world.

These lists are presented annually at the ALA's Midwinter Meeting. Each book is recommended for ages 12-18 and meet the criteria of being "both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens."

Last year's list included 15 Japanese manga titles, and its top ten list featured Hisae Iwaoka's Saturn Apartments. 2010's list had 19 Japanese recommendations, and its top ten list highlighted three manga titles (Ōoku, Children of the Sea, and Pluto). 2009's list offered nine manga with three manga titles on the top ten list: Sand Chronicles, REAL, and Uzumaki.

[Via Joy Kim, Deb Aoki]