First published - 4/18/2021
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Not sure where to start with buying manga for your library? Don't worry, you're not alone.  This is probably the #1 question I get from school librarians.  So, to help you and many others out, here is a list of recommendations to start.

These series have stood the test of time and will hopefully make every scarce budget dollar be well worth it, but I've also linked full reviews so you can check them out for yourself and make sure they're right for your library collection.

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:​

I'm back with another edition of "Supersize your Graphic Novel Collection", this time with some added goodies. In addition to the list of books I'd recommend from this year, I also gave attendees a list of EVERY book I've ever recommended from ANY of my various PDs! All in one place! Have fun!

I had the pleasure of speaking at K.C. Boyd's Back-to-School professional development mini-con in August of 2022. I got to share about some must-buy titles for Fall of 2022, and hear from some folks from across the nation. This was a fantastic experience, and I'm so honored I was included! Below are the resources I shared with the audience. Hope you find some great titles to add to your lists this semester!

This February, I not only helped co-chair the CSLA 2022 Virtual Conference, I presented yet again! I love being able to share what I'm passionate about and to help others find great books to put on their shelves. Take a look at the resources below.

Title List

I attended AASL in October of 2021, and had MANY titles to recommend. In this list, I have combined Elementary (ELEM), Middle School (MS), and High School (HS) recommendations but have notated on the list which would be appropriate for each age group. I also book-talked most of these titles and explained the rationale for each age group rating, so let me know if you have any questions!

One (good) problem of a growing graphic novel section is how to shelve all the wonderful titles so that students and patrons may easily find them. I recently did an overhaul of my shelving system in my graphic novel area, and the results have been positively received by my students. They all say that it has been easier to find what they want to read, and I don't even have signage out yet to explain how things are shelved!

Another reason to redesign your shelving system is to maximize shelving. Shelving graphic novel together by format instead of shelving all graphic novels intermixed means you'll have similar format sizes all together, and can adjust shelving. Manga tends to be much shorter than most books, so you can usually fit another shelf in this section. Comicbooks are a bit taller, so depending on your shelving, you mind need a little more room here.

Here was my old shelving system: All graphic novels were pulled out of regular Dewey order, but still maintained a 741.5 label on the spine. All manga were shelved together alphabetically by mangaka (manga creator); all comicbooks were shelved together alphabetically by author; all graphic novels were shelved together alphabetically by author. Now, I have four different sections: Manga, Comicbooks, Graphic Fiction, and Graphic Nonfiction. Read on to find out what I’ve done and some tips on how to implement this in your library.

Special thanks to Emily R., Megan T., and Chris D. for chatting repeatedly with me about the best scheme to use to reorganize this whole section. 

I once again presented at the State Library conference, and shared lists of recommended titles for purchase and collection development.  You can access the links below, and check out my presentation.

Middle School recommended list 2020
​High School recommended list 2020

I presented at California School Library Association, and shared booklists for librarians to purchase. Below are links to Google Docs that have the complete book lists for Middle School and High School, so you can get a copy for your own collection development.

Middle School recommended list 2019
High School recommended list 2019

I'm a published writer, y'all!

My article appeared in the November edition of California English.  To read the rest of the magazine, click here!