Educators, parents, and administrators still have interesting misconceptions about the content and educational merits of including manga in libraries and instructional settings. This session addresses the fallacies and provides information to dispel misunderstandings surrounding manga. There are also lesson ideas and book recommendations of  popular series students are clamoring for.

by Sara Smith

2025 was a fantastic year for publishing and reading, so this list was extremely difficult to make! One theme for this year that you'll see over and over is gorgeous illustrations. It seems I am a sucker for something beautifully drawn! I'm incredibly excited by all of the re-issuing of classic manga in hardcover or collector's editions so that new generations of readers can experience pivotal series.

I read 250 books in 2025, and many of them received a rating of 9-10/10, including all of the books on this list. As I filtered through to create this list, I prioritized books that were published within the last year. Thus, a few top rated books ended up in my Honorable Mentions because they were a little older. I hope you enjoy this list and find some books to add to your library purchases or personal TBR lists!

Reviews marked with the following symbols will require premium subscriptions, or searches in your favorite library purchasing program: Booklist* or ​School Library Journal+.

Links to previous years:

by Sara Smith 
​
First published: 10/15/22
Updated 11/24/2023
Updated 8/11/2025
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Middle school is by far the hardest grade to collect for as the in-betweeners struggling to find the line of scary, serious, intense, romantic -- but not too much. Below, I've compiled a list of manga I've read and reviewed that I've rated 8/10 or above that would be great for Middle School Libraries (grades 7th+). Many of these titles have stood the test of time as I've updated this list many times, or are ones I've added as the list has been updated. 

As budgets are tight all over, I've also included some older series that might still have appeal and were on previous versions of this list, so you can determine if you want to spend your dollars on these series if your readers might be interested in them. Lastly, at the bottom are some series I rated 7/10 which might still appeal to your audiences if you have the budget to spend on them.

I've also created a list of Good Manga for Elementary School Libraries (grades 3+). A lot of these titles would also be great for Middle School Libraries, but I also caution people against doubling up if you are in a school system and elementary libraries are buying the same titles as the junior high library. 

Additionally, you should definitely check out Ashley Hawkin's list of manga and light novels, which might have some overlap, and check out her website for more resources and content.

Note: These titles are listed in alphabetical order by title of series​.

Key: some reviews may require subscriptions: Booklist* or School Library Journal+

by Sara Smith 
​
First published: 5/7/22
Updated 4/1/2024
Updated 8/11/2025
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Finding age relevant manga for elementary readers can be difficult, so I sympathize with all of my library friends out there who are trying to satiate our younger, voracious readers! Elementary manga, known as "kodomomuke" in Japan (or just kodomo) often revolves around video game adaptations, animal stories, or stories that teach morals and lessons. You'll notice some of those themes within this list and other resources as you do your collection development. If your readers are tired of video game stories, sorry! That's kind of what's out there for the age group.

The manga on this list are all titles I've read and reviewed that received a rating of 7/10 or higher. Feel free to bookmark this page, as I'll continue to update it periodically and add more titles to it.

Additionally, you should definitely check out Ashley Hawkin's list and her website.

Note: These titles are listed in alphabetical order by title of series​.

Key: some reviews may require subscriptions: Booklist* or School Library Journal+

Better late than never, right? As awards season is upon us for 2025, let's take a look back at what books won awards in 2024! Some of these books have become favorites of the 2024-2025 school year with my readers, particularly Pedro Martín's Mexikid, which appears on a lot of awards lists below. 

As always, it's good to skim through the winners and nominees for these industry recognitions to see what items could be included in your collections, paying attention to age relevancy and the needs of your particular collection. Worth noting is that these awards and recognitions all have human judges and their own criteria, but these titles all bring something valuable enough to achieve recognition within their field, and possibly deserve consideration for inclusion in your graphic libraries.

by Sara Smith
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Welcome back to another edition of My Top 15! This year, my picks are a bit darker and a bit more more mature than they have been in the past, but that may be a indictment on my mental state. I've been really intrigued by some of the more gritty and gripping stories that have been produced this year. I also served on School Library Journal's Best Manga of 2024 committee, so there's definitely going to be some overlap. As always, these are the favorite of what I've read this year, so some of these books may have been published in previous years and I just finally got around to them.

​All of these books were rated 9/10 or 10/10 -- but this is not every book I've rated that high this year! These titles had fantastic art, gripping storylines, stood out in their respective genres, or made me feel feelings. I hope you enjoy or find some of your favorites among this list, or discover some new and exciting reads!

Reviews marked with the following symbols will require premium subscriptions, or searches in your favorite library purchasing program: Booklist* or ​School Library Journal+.

by Sara Smith
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This year, my reading challenge was a modest 200 books, a far cry from the heigh of 2020 where I had the goal of a book-a-day. But, this feels like a good balance between work, life, and reading! And, I still managed to find 15 great books with some honorable mentions while pumping out many reviews for Booklist  and the site, and even finding time to squeeze in School Library Journal this year. I hope you find some great books below to include in your collections!

(Note: any review marked with an * may require a Booklist​ subscription to read, or you might be able to find it among your favorite library purchasing software)

There are many associations and comic conventions that reward hard-working comics creators throughout the year for their diligence and hard work in bringing us fantastic stories for our shelves. Award nominees and winners are a good place to find beautiful stories to share with our students, just as award lists are helpful in other parts of our libraries.

Below are award winners and nominees for the year of 2023 from committees and library committees who have dedicated time to reading extensive lists of comics that are published in North America.

This Spring, the New Jersey Association of School Librarians held a virtual mini-conference with the theme, "Hope and Healing." My presentation for this conference was "Manga that Heals the Soul." After all, there is an entire genre of manga, "iyashikei", that is meant to heal the reader. Many of these stories have something to do with animals and nature, so you'll find tons of cute animals all over my presentation. Check out my resources below:​

by Sara Smith 
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In 2022, I challenged myself to read 300 books, but that quickly became an unreasonable pace to keep with as I got more involved in things with my school. I re-set my sights on 250 books, and was ultimately successful.

From those 250, here are my Top 15, with 5 honorable mentions, and some shout outs to series I selected last year that kept churning out bangers in 2022.

(Note: any review marked with an * will require a Booklist​ subscription to read)