Top Middle Grade Graphic Novels in Spanish
Our family really enjoys reading graphic novels in Spanish. They’re fun, engaging and generally a lot easier to finish than a traditional chapter book.
Learning a new language can be easier and more engaging when you use resources that are fun! Reading Spanish graphic novels has been a great way to improve my own Spanish language skills and to engage my daughter with Spanish reading.
In this post, I’ll share why I think reading graphic novels vs. traditional chapter books is okay, what the difference is between middle grade graphic novels and those for adults, and what our top picks are!
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Table of Contents
Must-Read Spanish Graphic Novels For Middle Grades
When looking for a great graphic novel to read to improve your Spanish, think about what your preferences are:
Do you want a story that you already know in English that has been translated into Spanish or an original story told in Spanish?
Are you looking for a story that was originally printed as a graphic novel or one that has been adapted from a traditional chapter book?
Since the market is finally starting to meet reader demand for graphic novels, here are my family’s top picks for middle grade Spanish graphic novels!
Looking for graphic novels for different ages? Check out these articles!
Spanish Graphic Novels (better for teens or adults)
Graphic Novels for Kids in Spanish (better for elementary school kids or kids learning to read in Spanish)
Srta. Quinces
By Kat Fajardo
This is a fun coming-of-age graphic novel focused on Sueyapa, a teenager who loves making comics with her friends. Sue wants to spend the summer at camp, but her mom is making her go to Honduras to visit family. In Honduras, Sue finds out that her mom wants her to celebrate a quinceañera even though Sue doesn’t want to.
“Srta. Quinces” was originally written as a graphic novel in English, and this is the Spanish version. The author, Kat Fajardo, writes about her Honduran/Columbian heritage and experiences as an American-Latina. If you’re looking for a family centered, middle grade graphic novel, this is a great place to start!
Alérgica
By Megan Wagner Lloyd
“Alérgica” is a graphic novel that was originally written as a graphic novel in English and this is the Spanish translation. Lloyd writes about her own experiences growing up in a large family and having allergies to many things, including animals with fur or feathers.
Maggie’s family is growing bigger as her mom and dad are expecting another baby. While her parents worry about the new baby, her twin younger brothers run around inseparable. Maggie desperately wants a pet, hoping that it will be her friend and companion in her changing world, but when they get to the pet store, Maggie has a severe allergic reaction. This is a great middle grade story about finding a place in your family.
Click
By Kayla Miller
The first book in this series that we read was, “Click”, and we soon found out that there were several more! These are the 3 that we have found that are currently translated into Spanish from the original English versions.
These stories follow Olivia as she goes on different adventures at school, home and camp. Many of the stories focus on the ups and downs of friendship, working through feelings and awkward situations. You don’t have to read these in order, but there are some references to past books so it’s a good idea to try and get them in order.
El Niño Brujo
By Molly Knox Ostertag
This is trilogy is a translation of the English series, “Witch Boy” and is a great read for middle grade audiences. The third book was just recently translated and released in Spanish and is a bit harder to find.
These stories follow Aster, who comes from a magical family where girls learn to be witches and boys learn to shapeshift. Aster is much more interested in spells and magic books and wants to be trained as a witch instead. As Aster searches for answers about who he is, he uncovers dark magic from his family’s past.
My daughter really enjoyed the first two books, the third one felt a little less cohesive than the others. For a middle grade novel, I’d say that this one is a little darker than some of the other books on the list and we read these together.
Supersorda
By Cece Bell
“Supersorda” is the Spanish translation of the English book, “El Deafo”. The author, Cece Bell, uses her own life experience and history to create the story of how she lost her hearing when she was 4 years old. She illustrates the characters as rabbits instead of people to emphasize the importance of ears/hearing in the story and how it effected her life.
Since the story follows a few years of Cece’s life in school, it makes for a well developed coming of age story and focuses on finding a true friend who accepts you no matter what.
El Club de las Babysitters
By Ann Martin
If you are a fan of the original “Babysitter’s Club” series then you’ll probably appreciate this graphic novel adaptation of the books by Ann Martin. These graphic novel versions do a nice job of retaining the character building of the original series. Unlike other book series, these don’t all have the same author/illustrator who has adapted them. The early ones are by Raina Telgemeier but it changes every few books or so.
If you’re looking for a longer graphic novel series then this is a good place to start. The books follow a club of 5 girls as they maintain their babysitting business, their friendships and school.
Agallas
By Raina Telgemeier
This was the graphic novel series that started my daughter off reading graphic novels. She really loved the storytelling structure that Raina Telgemeier uses and the autobiographical elements to her books. We both enjoy reading the ending notes where she includes real photographs of her family from the different times of her life that the books take place in.
All three of these books are autobiographical in nature and deal with different events in the life of Telgemeier. In terms of age “Agallas” deals with her life in 4th and 5th grade, while the other two are more about middle school into high school.
Fantasmas
Drama
By Raina Telgemeier
These are two additional graphic novels that have been written by Raina Telgemeier that are not part of her series that is autobiographical but they are definitely worth the read!
“Fantasmas” follows the family of Cat who has just moved to Northern California so that her sister with cystic fibrosis can be out of the city and in a town with cleaner air. Cat must learn to face the challenges of moving and making new friends at the same time as she comes to term with her sister’s illness.
“Drama” is about Callie’s experience as part of the middle school drama club as they prepare for their presentation of “Moon Over Mississippi”. The story is equal parts drama club and personal drama as Callie works out middle school romance and friendships with boys that is complicated and awkward.
Sobre Patines
Preparada, lista… ¡bienvenida a clase!
Cuando brillen las estrellas
By Victoria Jamieson
I didn’t stumble upon the works of Victoria Jamieson until last year and have enjoyed every single graphic novel that she’s written. In all 3 books she does a wonderful job of storytelling and character building that doesn’t always happen in a graphic novel.
*I group these books together because they’re all by the same author but they aren’t connected in any way and each one is it’s own distinct story *
“Sobre Patines” is the story of Astrid and her time at a roller derby summer camp. It’s a great middle grades novel because of it’s familiar themes of losing friends and making new friends, finding a new hobby, and learning about responsibility as part of growing up. My daughter and I both really loved this book!
Some of the biggest themes in, “Preparada, lista…bienvenida a clase!” are fitting it and making up for the mistakes that you made. My daughter would cringe at some of the choices Momo made as she left a life of homeschooling and started public high school. There are so many great talking points in this book and it’s a great example of a middle grade graphic novel with coming of age drama.
The final book by Victoria Jamieson is “Cuando brillen las estrellas” and it’s at the cusp of being a middle grades novel. It leans a little more towards young adult, as the content is more intense. This is the biography of Omar Mohamed as told by Victoria Jamieson and it details his early life growing up in a refugee camp in Kenya. While the story is important and a happy ending, it has some parts that are for a mature audience.
Cuatro Ojos
By Rex Ogle and Dave Valeza
This autobiographical graphic novel follows Rex Ogle in his first year of middle school. After the first few weeks of school he finds out that he needs glasses and faces ridicule from his supposed friends. This is a great story about accepting yourself for who you are and facing the challenges of your own life with courage.
Una Arruga en el Tiempo
By Madeleine L’Engle
When I read graphic novels I usually try and read ones that specifically have not been adapted from a novel format because they tend to lose the depth that the original novel provided. This graphic novel version of, “Una arruga en el tiempo” was able to keep so much of the flavor of the original novel by Madeline L’Engle that it’s one of the only ones I will recommend on my site!
Unlike some of the other graphic novels that we have read, the pages are not in color, but black and white and are very thin. The book has almost a “newspaper” feel instead of the heavier pages that traditional graphic novels are printed on. I like that a lot of the dialogue from the original novel is present and not abridged, making this graphic novel a little more word dense than some others. A great middle grade graphic novel for any household!
Pájaro Blanco
By R.J. Palacio
This is a wonderful companion graphic novel to “Wonder” by R. J. Palacio. For the full effect, you should read “Wonder” first to get an idea for the background and importance of this graphic novel. One of the best things I liked about this book was that it wasn’t an adaptation, R.J. Palacio actually wrote this as a graphic novel and used it to illustrate the background behind her character Julian.
This novel touches on some tough themes including death of a friend and the Holocaust, so it’s good for mature middle-grade readers or young adults. This is a deep read and a very well crafted story to check out.
Ana de las Tejas Verdes
By Mariah Marsden
This is the graphic novel adaptation of the novel by the same name. My daughter really enjoyed this graphic novel and appreciated how it was almost ‘episodic’ in that each chunk was a mini story or adventure that Ana has. There is some nice overall character development in the story, though I must say that I prefer the novel version myself.
Rizos
By Claribel Ortega
We picked this book up at our local independent bookstore one day and really enjoyed the story that it was! This is a story of Marlene, a middle grade kiddo who is learning about her hair and self care. She struggles to appreciate the texture and curl of her hair and goes through an adventure to find out the best way to care and style her hair in a way that makes her feel comfortable.
“Rizos” is a nice coming of age novel, especially for kiddos who are concerned with hair, style, appearances and fitting in at school. My daughter and I had some great conversations as we read this one!
Caty la Cuidadora de Gatos
By Stephanie Yue and Colleen AF Venable
This was a cute and funny graphic novel for middle schoolers that is a light read. Caty is looking for a job so that she can earn money to go to summer camp. She finally finds a job taking care of cats in her apartment building and finds that there are many secrets to undercover about the super heroes in her town!
My daughter and I enjoyed this book for it’s humor and cute story. It was particularly deep or thought provoking but was a fun book to read and reread together.
It’s Okay For Kids To Read Graphic Novels!
Reading graphic novels is a great way to get kids engaged and motivated to read, in any language. The captivating stories, vivid illustrations and characters create an immersive reading experience that engages kids easily.
As for learning Spanish, reading graphic novels are a great way to boost your developing Spanish language skills. The fact that there are illustrations on each page means that you’re unlikely to get lost in the comprehension of the story and the plot, even if there are Spanish vocabulary words that are unfamiliar to you.
Since graphic novels focus mostly on dialogue, reading a Spanish graphic novel with colloquial language, idioms and slang will help improve your overall conversational fluency.
What Are ‘Middle Grade’ Graphic Novels
I have previously written about Spanish graphic novels that I’ve read and enjoyed. As I continue to explore and read more graphic novels in Spanish, I realized that it would be helpful to separate the ones that I’ve enjoyed into categories of “middle grade graphic novels” and “Spanish graphic novels for adults”.
Middle grade graphic novels tend to focus more on school themes, friendship, school drama, coming of age, etc. Adult graphic novels can really explore any theme, but may have more mature content or images.
Today I’m sharing my top picks for middle grade graphic novels. I’m labeling them as “middle grades” because most of the characters are around that age, 11/12 and the themes tend to be coming of age stories.
However, they are not just for middle school readers and can be enjoyed by younger and older audiences as well!
Do you have any favorite Spanish middle grade graphic novels? Share them in the comments!
Happy Learning!
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