By Lisa Gullickson — Did you know that the literary designation of “Young Adult Fiction,” more commonly known as “YA Fiction,” refers to readers ages 12 to 18? That is totally ridiculous. Have you ever looked at a 14-year-old, let alone a 12-year-old, and thought, “There is an adult. Granted, a young one, but an adult nonetheless.” If you ask me, a 36-year-old full adult, what ages I would consider a “young adult,” I would maybe say junior in high school until they have their first very serious, not hypothetical conversation about health insurance. Being an emotionally late bloomer and goody-two-shoes, I chose to defer my adolescence until my freshman year of college. Still, I’m a quick study and got all the credits I needed to start my young adulthood by the spring semester. And it was the worst. I think about my young adulthood, and I feel a tightness in my chest - just a knot of anxiety right behind my sternum. 

The term “young adult” in reference to literature actually originated in the periodical “The Guardian of Education” in 1802 when Sarah Trimmer made a distinction between “Books for Children,” readers up to 14, and “Books for Young Persons,” readers 14 to 21. The term “teenager” was coined in the 40s, but according to literary publishing, they still don’t exist. Do you know why? Because teenagers get to choose their own books.

There is no MPAA or ESRB for books. There is no board of anonymous suits putting compulsory ratings on book jackets using hard-and-fast (though arbitrary) rules on what a teenager should and should not read. Therefore, “YA Fiction” is a marketing term aimed at readers 12 to 18 who want a book to escape the nightmare of their adolescence to a fantasy land where they are “young adults.” Your dad may not think you’re old enough to ride alone in a car with a boy, but that is because he doesn’t get you. But there are two whole shelves in the comic book store that get you. They know you are a young adult. 

The term “Young Adult” is not literal. It’s aspirational. No one over the age of thirteen wants to be a teenager. Because being a teenager is the worst. Well, second worst after being a young adult, but they don’t know that. The creators of YA graphic novels understand this open secret that their readers feel less like sophisticated young adults and more like weird, gross, old kids. The best authors create characters that get them, embrace them, and let them know it’s going to be okay. Nobody makes it to literal young adulthood unscathed, but great young adult literature gifts those awkward hopefuls some invaluable life lessons to make it all more bearable. 

The following curated list contains examples of the very best graphic novels that YA has to offer and is presented with the invaluable life lesson contained in these pages. It’s roughly arranged from youngest reader to oldest, but its intended use is prescriptive. You may be looking for a book for yourself, an aspiring young adult you know and love, or maybe it’s your inner insecure adolescent who needs a little TLC. So read through the life lessons - the one that resonates is the book that you need.

The Best YA Graphic Novels Reading List

Djeliya
Writer/Artist: Juni Ba
Publisher: TKO Studios, 2021
Inspired by West African folklore and stories handed over centuries, this unique graphic novel follows the adventures of Mansour Keita, last prince of a dying kingdom, and Awa Kouyaté, his loyal Djeli, or 'royal storyteller' as they journey to meet the great wizard who destroyed their world and then withdrew into his tower, never to be seen again.
On their journey they'll cross paths with friend and foe, from myth and legend alike, and revisit the traditions, tales, and stories that gave birth to their people and nurture them still. But what dark secret lies at the heart of these stories, and what purpose do their tellers truly serve?
Life Lesson: The greatest storyteller is the one that empowers the people, not the powerful. With their society in chaos, Awa feels like the last Djeli who is taking their ancestral role as “royal storyteller” seriously, which is a challenge because her Prince Mansour is pathetic. Other Djeli, like DJ Eli, have taken their gift for storytelling to serve their own egos and build their social media followings, but Awa knows better. She believes that her job as a storyteller is to build up her prince, but on their quest to see the wizard, she grasps how truly powerful her story can be.
More Info: Djeliya

The Prince and the Dressmaker
Writer/Artist: Jen Wang
Publisher: First Second, 2018
Paris, at the dawn of the modern age:
Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride—or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night he puts on daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the fabulous Lady Crystallia—the hottest fashion icon in the world capital of fashion!
Sebastian’s secret weapon (and best friend) is the brilliant dressmaker Frances—one of only two people who know the truth: sometimes this boy wears dresses. But Frances dreams of greatness, and being someone’s secret weapon means being a secret. Forever. How long can Frances defer her dreams to protect a friend? Jen Wang weaves an exuberantly romantic tale of identity, young love, art, and family. A fairy tale for any age, The Prince and the Dressmaker will steal your heart.
Life Lesson: Being loved for who people think you are pales in comparison to being loved for who you really are. Before Frances, the best Prince Sebastian hopes for is an employee whom he can depend on to keep his secret. But Frances turns out to be a brilliant designer and the first person who sees him for who he is and loves him for it. Lady Crystallia is the amalgamation of both of their passions - Frances as artist and Sebastian as muse. But when Lady Crystallia’s fame threatens to keep Frances’s talent in the sewing room, Sebastian has to make a choice. He hid half of himself in Lady Crystallia to preserve his relationship with his parents, but Frances proves there is no substitute for being loved completely.
More Info: The Prince and the Dressmaker

Bloom
Writer: Kevin Panetta
Artist: Savanna Ganucheau
Publisher: First Second, 2019
Now that high school is over, Ari is dying to move to the big city with his ultra-hip band—if he can just persuade his dad to let him quit his job at their struggling family bakery. Though he loved working there as a kid, Ari cannot fathom a life wasting away over rising dough and hot ovens. But while interviewing candidates for his replacement, Ari meets Hector, an easygoing guy who loves baking as much as Ari wants to escape it. As they become closer over batches of bread, love is ready to bloom . . . that is, if Ari doesn’t ruin everything.
Life Lesson: Invest in what makes you happy in the present rather than what you think might make you happy in the future. Ari thinks that moving away from the family business and trying to hack it with his indie band is what’s going to make him happy, even if it makes everything leading up to it miserable. However, when he starts working with Hector in the bakery, he experiences a level of ease and contentment that feels so good it scares him. Ari has to learn to let go of that hypothetical, cool adult person he thought he was going to become so that he can start being the person he is meant to be right now.
More Info: Bloom

Mooncakes
Artist: Wendy Xu
Writer: Suzanne Walker
Publisher: Oni Press, 2019
A story of love and demons, family and witchcraft. Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers’ bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town. One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. As a werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any townhome. Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery.
Life Lesson: You are not a burden on the people who love you. When Nova the Witch and Tam the wolf reunite, it was like Tam never disappeared. Their close relationship picks up where they left off. But Tam is restless. They’ve been on the move a long time, and the last thing they want is their trouble catching up to Nova and her grandmothers. Nova knows that the evil Tam is running from is the kind they’re going to have to face on their own, but that doesn’t mean that Tam has to do it alone. Reluctantly, Tam allows Nova and her grandmas to use their expertise in magics to help them, but they insist on keeping one foot out the door. When Tam’s plan to go it alone backfires, Nova and her family prove that being there for them is not a burden but a cherished privilege.
More Info: Mooncakes

Dragon Hoops
Writer/Artist: Gene Luen Yang
Publisher: First Second, 2020
Gene understands stories—comic book stories, in particular. Big action. Bigger thrills. And the hero always wins.
But Gene doesn’t get sports. As a kid, his friends called him “Stick” and every basketball game he played ended in pain. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it's all anyone can talk about. The men’s varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that’s been decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships.
Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he’s seen on a comic book page. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end. What he doesn’t know yet is that this season is not only going to change the Dragons’s lives, but his own life as well.
Life Lesson: The bravest thing you can do is fully commit to something without knowing the outcome. Part memoir, part biography of a high school basketball team, Dragon Hoops demystifies the appeal of competitive sports. Gene Luen Yang was never a sports guy. He instead obsessed over comics in a way that made the two seem mutually exclusive. But when he spends a season with the Bishop O’Dowd Dragons, he learns that a player stepping onto a court is a more precise metaphor for everyday acts of heroism than Superman can ever be.
More Info: Dragon Hoops

Anya’s Ghost
Writer/Artist: Vera Brosgol
Publisher: First Second, 2011
Anya could really use a friend. But her new BFF isn't kidding about the "Forever" part . . . 
Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who's been dead for a century. 
Falling down a well is bad enough, but Anya's normal life might actually be worse. She's embarrassed by her family, self-conscious about her body, and she's pretty much given up on fitting in at school. A new friend―even a ghost―is just what she needs. 
Or so she thinks. 
Spooky, sardonic, and secretly sincere, Anya's Ghost is a wonderfully entertaining debut graphic novel from author/artist Vera Brosgol.
Life Lesson: Getting where you want to be is not worth taking advantage of the people you want to leave behind. Being your average high schooler has taken a little more effort for Anya. As an immigrant, she had to lose her accent, abstain from her mother’s delicious but calorie-dense Russian food, and try to fit in. Now that she has this hugely distracting crush on Sean from the basketball team, she has no mental faculties left to study for the quiz. So when her new ghost friend offers to use her spectral powers to peek at a few papers, why not? But when her relationship with her now dead friend turns into a co-dependant nightmare, Anya discovers that her unique struggles don’t entitle her to any shortcuts, especially at the expense of others.
More Info: Anya’s Ghost

Spinning
Writer/Artist: Tillie Walden
Publisher: First Second, 2017
It was the same every morning. Wake up, grab the ice skates, and head to the rink while the world was still dark.
Weekends were spent in glitter and tights at competitions. Perform. Smile. And do it again.
She was good. She won. And she hated it.
For ten years, figure skating was Tillie Walden’s life. She woke before dawn for morning lessons, went straight to group practice after school, and spent weekends competing at ice rinks across the state. Skating was a central piece of her identity, her safe haven from the stress of school, bullies, and family. But as she switched schools, got into art, and fell in love with her first girlfriend, she began to question how the close-minded world of figure skating fit in with the rest of her life, and whether all the work was worth it given the reality: that she, and her friends on the team, were nowhere close to Olympic hopefuls. The more Tillie thought about it, the more Tillie realized she’d outgrown her passion―and she finally needed to find her own voice.
Life Lesson: The more time you spend going through the motions, the less time you have to follow what sparks your joy. Doing competitive ice skating is such a tremendous commitment and Tillie is exhausted, but the rigidity and monotony of it seem to be the only thing holding Tillie’s life together. She’s an emotional can of worms, too afraid that if she opens up about wanting to quit skating, the rest of her inner life will spill out. Tillie Walden’s memoir, Spinning, is a cautionary tale. Don’t waste your life because you’re afraid of facing your life. Life is like figure skating - there is only so much time you can spend building momentum. Eventually, you have to leap.
More Info: Spinning

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me
Writer: Mariko Tamaki
Artist: Rosemary Valero-O’Connell 
Publisher: First Second, 2019
Laura Dean, the most popular girl in high school, was Frederica Riley's dream girl: charming, confident, and SO cute. There's just one problem: Laura Dean is maybe not the greatest girlfriend.
Reeling from her latest break up, Freddy's best friend, Doodle, introduces her to the Seek-Her, a mysterious medium, who leaves Freddy some cryptic parting words: break up with her. But Laura Dean keeps coming back, and as their relationship spirals further out of her control, Freddy has to wonder if it's really Laura Dean that's the problem. Maybe it's Freddy, who is rapidly losing her friends, including Doodle, who needs her now more than ever. 
Fortunately for Freddy, there are new friends, and the insight of advice columnists like Anna Vice to help her through being a teenager in love.
Life Lesson: If the second emotion you feel after infatuation is panic, your relationship is toxic. Get out. I’m not going to say that Laura Dean is a bad person. Laura Dean is a high schooler, a child, so the most decent thing to do is withhold judgment. But Laura Dean is fully aware that there is something Frederica desperately wants from her. As long as Laura withholds that piece of herself, she can treat Freddy however she wants. In her infatuation, Freddy starts alienating herself from her family, her friends, and even her bestie, Doodle, just to seem available to Laura. Hopefully, young readers of Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me become attuned to the signs of a toxic relationship and spare themselves the heartache of being entirely alone in love.
More Info: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me

My Boyfriend Is A Bear
Writer: Pamela Ribon
Artist: Cat Ferris
Publisher: Oni Press, 2018
Bear meets girl. Nora has bad luck with men. When she meets an (actual) bear on a hike in the Los Angeles hills, he turns out to be the best romantic partner she’s ever had! He’s considerate, he’s sweet, he takes care of her. But he’s a bear, and winning over her friends and family is difficult. Not to mention he has to hibernate all winter. Can true love conquer all?
Life Lesson: When it comes to finding love, don’t put too much stock in what others think. There is this weird ritual in your “young adulthood” where you parade the person you are dating around so that people who feel entitled can “approve of them.” It feels sacred - the outing with the friends and the meeting of the parents. Nora had been through it too many times with so many duds; she was ready to throw in the proverbial towel. But, of course, the second she stops looking she finds herself in the perfect relationship. Granted, he’s a literal bear, but he really makes her happy. Nora learns that, in love, there are only two opinions that matter. Hers and her bear’s.
More Info: My Boyfriend is a Bear

Bubble 
Writers: Jordan Morris and Sarah Morgan
Artist: Tony Cliff
Colors: Natalie Reiss
Publisher: First Second, 2021
Built and maintained by corporate benevolence, the city of Fairhaven is a literal bubble of safety and order (and amazing coffee) in the midst of the Brush, a harsh alien wilderness ruled by monstrous Imps and rogue bands of humans. Humans like Morgan, who’s Brush-born and Bubble-raised and fully capable of fending off an Imp attack during her morning jog. She’s got a great routine going—she has a chill day job, she recreationally kills the occasional Imp, then she takes that Imp home for her roommate and BFF, Annie, to transform into drugs as a side hustle. But cracks appear in her tidy life when one of those Imps nearly murders a delivery guy in her apartment, accidentally transforming him into a Brush-powered mutant in the process. And when Morgan’s company launches Huntr, a gig economy app for Imp extermination, she finds herself press-ganged into kicking her stabby side job up to the next level as she battles a parade of monsters and monstrously Brush-turned citizens, from a living hipster beard to a book club hive mind.
Life Lesson: Just because you don’t know where you’re going doesn’t mean that you’re on the wrong path. Guess what? Ambition is not for everyone. That whole “shoot for the moon… land amongst the stars” thing is a load of imp guts. As much as her CEO of a mother-ish figure wants to push her to be a “career success” and her hot dad wants her to be this badass brush warrior, Morgan ends up taking a cue from her oddball group of friends. Being admirable is cool if that’s your thing, but sometimes it just feels better to be yourself.
More Info: Bubble

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Lisa Gullickson is one half of the couple on the Comic Book Couples Counseling podcast, and, yes, the a capella version of the 90s X-men theme is all her. Her Love Language is Words of Affirmation which she accepts @sidewalksiren on twitter.