O'Malley's 2004-2010 classic is still a tale that resonates with today's teens.  This is one of those rare non-Japanese manga that actually has staying power.  The manga version is close to the movie adaptation (one of the books-to-movies that turned out alright) in that Scott is dating a high schooler, he dreams about a mysterious girl, and he has to fight off the evil exes of his dream girl, Ramona.  Scott has other adventures and battles, and yes, the baddies do disappear into a pile of coins just like most video games.  

My second installment of Read the Manga focuses on Kingdom Hearts, a hugely popular and expansive series that spanned several generations of consoles, some that are extremely hard to find now.  Reading the manga is a great way to catch up on stories before playing the ones you do have.

​Kingdom Hearts is a mash-up between two favorite universes: Disney. and Final Fantasy.   Disney has repeatedly created worlds that captivate our imaginations, and there are an abundance of Final Fantasy video games with iconic characters.  Kingdom Hearts pulls these two franchises together by asking the main character to save each of the different Disney Worlds while teaming up with Disney characters and interacting with our favorite Final Fantasy characters.  Similarly to the Legend of Zelda and other Japanese manga for children, the main themes of this series include friendship, belief in oneself, and determination.  Some of these storylines can be complex, so these titles would most likely be enjoyed by ages 10+.

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.