Several popular video game franchises have adapted popular games into manga.  This can be a great addition to your library because of console availability: not all of your students have the ability to purchase all of the consoles to play their favorite games.  Reading the manga versions is a great way to keep up with a beloved series without spending hundreds of dollars on gaming systems.

There are currently five volumes in this series, and with the wealth of Zelda games, there could be more to come.  All of these volumes reflect the adventurous, light-hearted universe of the games, and are suitable for ages 8+.  One major departure for all of these titles is that the dungeons and puzzle-solving that fans love about these games does not translate to manga storylines, and are thus mostly absent from the novelizations.

Like many stories from Japan that are targeted at children, these volumes center around motifs of friendship, trying your best, being courageous, and the classic good-versus-evil.

Illustrated by Dave McKean

​Many Batman titles are suggested for mature readers, and this one is no exception.  However, the exploration of the human character that happens over these pages is valuable for readers looking to move past the "kid comics."

As the novel opens, we are greeted by a flashback of Amadeus Arkham, the man who founded Arkham Asylum in the early 1920s.  These flashbacks appear throughout the novel, and mirror Batman's descent into the depths of his psyche.  In present day, the inmates have taken over the asylum, and demand Batman come visit him, or they will start killing hostages (who are hospital employees).  Batman agrees, and almost immediately is put through a test by Joker.  This isn't the silly Joker of the 1960s TV show.  This is the creepy Joker of Heath Ledger.  Each encounter with a villain is another segment of Batman's psyche that he has to face - or be dragged into the madness with them all.