Its no secret to anyone who reads here often that we love the library. We go to our local libary once a week at least, and we can easily spend an hour there. And we take out a lot of books. Possibly too many, from the look of my overdue fines currently, but I just can't say no to library books. And why should I? The boys get lots of books, but lately they are very, very into graphic novels. Which I love for a variety of reasons. First of all, I love a really well illustrated book. And I love a densely illustrated book. And the boys love that they can, more or less, "read" it themselves. The pictures are telling them the story, which means they can do it on their own. And also, they tend to be long, which means they spend a long time reading the book, which makes me happy. The Little Guy especially loves to page through a book, pouring over the pictures, but he can rip through a pile of books in no time flat. So I love how much longer a graphic novel keeps him busy.
Anyhow, this week e were hardly in the door from the library...
...before we cracked open the new books. Seriously, their shoes were not even off yet and they were hunkered down side by side to slowly page through the densely illustrated books.
(I had to include this picture because this is one of the many hammy faces that the Little Dude likes to make when he notices I'm taking his picture).
So here are a few of our favourite graphic novels. I recommend these, though I will always say that you should pre-screen these type of books for your kids. You might have different standards for your kids than I do and your kids may be more sensitive about certain types of imagery than mine. That being said there is obviously nothing graphically sexual or violent about these books. But there are always nuances that might bother one child more than another. Especially in "spooky" books. But disclaimer aside, these are some that we really like. 
The Hilda series by Luke Pearson are my favourites. They are just so gorgeous and just slightly weird.
Lots of mystical creatures, but none of them are malevolent.
And they colour palettes are amazing. Plus also, TINY HOUSES!
This is the Little Dude's current favourite. Earthling by Mark Fearing. You can download a sample chapter on his website, which even has colouring pages. We love colouring pages.
It has a great relateable plot (new kid in school has trouble fitting in) but with a sci fi twist (the school is in outer space). And it has taught him lots of fun new words like "telemetry". Also, it is small and portable and broken into chapters, which was very convenient for reading aloud to my five year old. I used this one as the incentive for a good, smooth, focused getting-ready-for-school morning. If there was no dawdling/whining/dragging his feet, we got to read it together one chapter at a time as we sat outside in the snow waiting for the bus.
The Little Guy LOVES cats. And space. So the Binky the Cat books by Ashley Spires, are a no brainer.
Scary Godmother, by Jill Thompson is the Little Dude's all time favourite. Its an anthology of a whole series of books the theme of which is general light spookieness. Which he LOVES!
His favourite storyline is about this little girl who takes over the duties of preparing her neighborhood for Halowe'en when her Scary Godmother gets sick.
I just love her watercolour illustrations.
So expressive and awesome. (And don't worry, little Hannah here gets over her fright and sadness pretty fast when she finds out how fun and awesome all the monsters are that she is initally scared of).
The boys spent much of the rest of the afternoon curled up with various books and graphic novels. And I have no complaints about that. People who are busy reading are generally speaking, not fighting. Which is awesome.
Oh, blessed, blessed book-based quiet. How I love it.
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