Happy Happy Clover by Sayuri Tatsuyama

Clover is a young, energetic bunny growing up in Crescent Forest. Together with her bunny friends Mallow, Shallot, and Kale, and their babysitter, flying squirrel Hickory, Clover has fun and goes on adventures. Clover challenges the wandering rabbit Bramble to an obstacle course race; promises to deliver a letter across the forest for her teacher Mr. Hoot; and accidentally tells Kale's six little brothers about the human called Santa Claus-- and then has to bring them the presents they ask Santa for!

Appeal: Cute, animals, all ages, growing up, friendship

Art: Chibi, cute, stereotyped

Text: Busy but simple, exclamatory

Other: Happy Happy Clover has been adapted into an anime and a Nintendo DS game.

Awards: Tatsuyama's previous work, about puppies and other pets, won the Shogakukan Manga Award for kids' manga in 2001.

Tatsuyama, Sayuri, Sayuri Amemiya, and Kaori Inoue. Happy Happy Clover. San Francisco, Calif. : Viz Media, 2007. Print.

Gon by Masashi Tanaka

Gon

Gon is a very small dinosaur who escaped the extinction that killed all of the other dinosaurs. Gon wanders wherever he pleases through the paleolithic era, napping, eating, and terrorizing other animals with his ferocious strength and unlimited durability. No animal can defeat Gon, and none can hope to stop him from doing what he wants, whether it's stealing a lion's lunch or taking over a bear's cave to nap in. Gon might, on a whim, save a defenseless creature from a predator, or beat up whomever crosses his path.

Appeal: Dinosaurs, animals, fighting, power fantasy, elementary school boys

Art: Black and white, realistic and exaggerated

Text: Gon is entirely wordless.

Other: Gon was published in Japan from 1992 to 2002. It has been made into two video games and an anime.

Awards: Masashi Tanaka won two Eisner Awards for Gon in 1998: Best Humor Publication and Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material.

Tanaka, Masashi. Gon. La Jolla, CA : WildStorm Productions, 2007. Print.

Babymouse: Dragonslayer by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

Babymouse: Dragonslayer

Babymouse is having trouble in math. None of the numbers make sense and even her big imagination isn't helping. Then her math teacher recruits her for the mathletes team, figuring that a little competition and some encouragement from her teammates will help Babymouse succeed. Together they learn about math, and come competition time, Babymouse uses her new skills along with her copious imagination to overcome the dragon that is mathematics.

Appeal: Imagination, good female characters, animals, math, overcoming obstacles in school

Art: Monochromatic, exaggerated, anthropomorphic

Text: Dramatic, fantastical

Other: Jennifer Holm was a television producer before she began writing children's books. Her other series the Stink Files, Squish, and Boston Jane.

Awards: Jennifer Holm has won three Newbery Honor Awards, for Turtle in Paradise, Our Only May Amelia, and Penny From Heaven.

Holm, Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew. Babymouse: Dragonslayer. New York : Random House Children's Books, 2009. Print.

Little Mouse Gets Ready: A Toon Book by Jeff Smith

Little Mouse Gets Ready: A Toon Book

Little Mouse's mother is going to take him and his siblings to play in the barn, but first Little Mouse must get ready! He works hard to put on all of his clothes correctly. The underwear's tag goes in back; make sure you match up buttons to the right buttonholes; and put on socks before shoes. Once he's all dressed, Little Mouse's mother surprises him with a reminder: mice don't wear clothes!

Appeal: Animals, getting dressed, kids, beginning readers

Art: Beautiful lines, bright color

Text: Instructional, simple

Other: Part of the Toon Book series, which introduces the comics format to young readers. The series

Awards: Was a Theodore Seuss Geisel Award Honor Book in 2010.

Smith, Jeff. Little Mouse Gets Ready: A Toon Book. New York : Toon Books, 2009. Print.

Tiny Titans: Welcome to the Treehouse by Art Baltazar and Franco

Tiny Titans: Welcome to the Treehouse

This kid-friendly take on DC Comics' younger heroes takes place at Sidekick Elementary, where Robin and Starfire hang out with their friends, form a super pet club, and feud with rivals from the villains' elementary school across town. Characters reference and parody current events in the DC universe in addition to having their own adventures. Kid Flash races other speedsters only to be distracted by friends. Robin tries on a new costume and new name, but no one recognizes him. Everyone dresses up in special outfits for pink day, where our heroes celebrate all things pink.

Appeal: Kids, DC Comics, superheroes, humor, animals

Art: Caricature, bold, bright

Text: Punny, simple

Other: Art Baltazar and Franco work for DC Comics, and have also collaborated on the kid-friendly Itty Bitty Hellboy and Superman Family Adventures.

Awards: Tiny Titans won the Eisner Award for Best Publication for Kids in 2009 and 2011.

Baltazar, Art. Franco. Tiny Titans Vol. 01: Welcome to the Treehouse. Place : DC Comics, 2009. Print.

Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas by Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wick

Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas

The intertwined stories of three primatologists recruited by Richard Leakey to study apes in the wild. Leakey recruited these woman based on their aptitude, interest, and gender, as Leakey thought that women made better field observers than men. The book covers parts of the careers of each primatologist: Jane Goodall observed chimpanzees in Tanzania, Dian Fossey studied gorillas in Rwanda, and Birute Galdikas learned about orangutans in Borneo.

Appeal: Primates, animals, historical, science, educational, women in STEM, middle school plus.

Art: Realistic, with depth and emotion

Text: Expository, narrative

Other: Jim Ottaviani has written several non-fiction comics on topics such as Richard Feynman, the space race, and Niels Bohr. Maris Wicks has illustrated children's books and the Adventure Time monthly comic.

Awards: Primates had a starred review in Publisher's Weekly, and won a National Science Teachers Association Award for Outstanding Science Trade Book in 2014.

Ottaviani, Jim. Wicks, Maris. Primates: The Fearless Science Of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, And Biruté Galdikas. New York : First Second, 2013. Print.

Bloom County by Berke Breathed

Bloom County

A political commentary and satire starring the residents of a small-town boarding house. Characters include Milo, a ten-year-old newspaper editor, his pop culture-obsessed friend Binkley, womanizing lawyer Steve, wheelchair-bound veteran Cutter John, Bill the (mostly braindead), and Opus, a naive and optimisitic penguin. Throughout the strips they run for president, form heavy metal bands, protest unfair treatment of comic strip characters, die, come back to life, and generally lampoon 1980s politics. It is available online at gocomics.com.

Appeal: Political humor, 1980s pop culture references, absurdism, talking animals, satire adults.

Art: Dynamic expression and composition, fine use of color in Sunday strips.

Textual style: Sarcastic, ironically juvenile, loquacious.

Other: Steve and Cutter John starred in Berke Breathed's earlier comic The Academia Waltz. Breathed followed Bloom County's run with two related strips, Outland and Opus.

Awards: Breathed won the Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning in 1987. 

Breathed, Berke. Tales Too Ticklish To Tell: Bloom County. Boston : Little, Brown, 1988. Print.