Comics News: New Graphic Novel from ‘Hey Kiddo’ Creator

Here’s a roundup of the latest kids’ comics news from around the web!

Jarrett Krosoczka, whose memoir Hey Kiddo was a finalist for a National Book Award, is working on a new graphic novel, Sunshine. Krosoczka’s mother was a drug user, and he was raised by his grandparents, which he recounts in Hey Kiddo; Sunshine expands on one episode from that story, in which Krosoczka was a counselor at a camp for children with terminal illnesses. Although it fits neatly with Hey Kiddo, Sunshine can be read independently, and it focuses on a particular part of Krosoczka’s teenage years:

The week chronicled in Sunshine, which Krosoczka spent away from his family, working with campers from across New England and beyond who had different struggles than his own, was “a crucial turning point” in his life. “I was developing these friendships with campers and was wondering if my dad ever went on to have more kids that I’d never know about, unless I wrote him back,” said Krosoczka, who was deciding whether to begin a relationship with his distant parent. “The experience taught me that while my difficulties in childhood were profound, I wasn’t the only person who had to deal with adverse experiences. [Working at Camp Sunshine] was such an important part of my growth as a person and my understanding of compassion and giving myself up to be of service to others.”

Krosoczka has also resumed his all-ages video series Draw Every Day with JJK, and he is launching a new one, Origin Stories with JJK, in which he will talk other creators, including Raina Telgemeier, Gene Luen Yang, and Jerry Craft about how they became cartoonists.

Something else to look forward to: Random House Kids announced on Twitter that they will publish Harper Sharp, a middle-grade graphic novel trilogy by Jarrett Williams about a boy who solves mysteries.

One Dog (Man) to Rule Them All: This is not hugely surprising, given that it happened with all the other volumes but Dog Man: Grime and Punishment topped all the best-seller charts last week, beating out Melania and Me and the Louise Penney’s latest mystery, among others. The ninth and newest volume in Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man saga came out on September 1.

Comics Resource: John Freeman brings us news of a new attempt to catalog all the comics annuals published by the Scottish firms DC Thomson and John Leng between 1921 and 1965. These are classic British comics in a variety of genres, and the post includes links to several resources for those who would like to explore the topic further.

Awards: The longlist for the National Book Awards is out, and one graphic novel made the cut: When Stars Are Scattered, by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohammed. This book has been getting a lot of attention, and deservedly so; you can read Esther’s review and Caleb’s interview with the creators on GC4K.

George Takei and his co-creators Steven Scott, Justin Eisinger, and Harmony Becker won an American Book Award for Takei’s graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy; Becker also won the National Cartoonists’ Society’s Best Graphic Novel award for the book.

Filed under: All Ages