What’s hot with kids and teens right now at the Madison County Library? Manga! We cannot seem to keep these titles on the shelf. As soon as one person brings them back, another is in line to check them out, and our collection of titles grows bigger with every new popular series.

Many parents want to know, “What is Manga, and what are they about?” Manga (the “man” in manga is pronounced like the word “on”) is a Japanese novel using detailed images and text. Each page contains art by a talented illustrator, drawn mostly in black and white, accompanied by the story written in text boxes and captions. Typically action packed, each sequence of the story draws you in with its unique eye-catching style.

Manga is not easy to read! Unlike graphic novels, Manga reads from back-to-front, and from right-to-left. Kids have to get used to reading the entire book backwards!

Manga as we know them today have been around since the 1950s, but the surge of popularity has grown immensely since the 1990s due to the rise in availability of Japanese Cartoons (Anime) in America.

In Japan, the word Manga refers to all cartoons, comics, and animation, but in America, we specifically consider Manga to be Japanese comics. Topics can be from any genre. Action and adventure, fantasy, horror, and comedy are some of the more popular series at our Library. A lot of the Manga series you find in print can also be found on Netflix, as many of them were a television show first.

So why do our kids love Manga so much? They are challenging, they are fast-paced, and the images give a better sense of the overall story while you read them. Some may think that these novels are like picture books, but if you were to skip over the text in them, you would find the need to turn back and re-read them to understand the full story.

Being a quick read, those with high energy levels may find that Manga is a great option for them when books with no pictures are sometimes difficult to focus on. This is why many readers check out several Manga issues at a time, since they can devour them so quickly.

These novels are great for learning new vocabulary, too, as writers have to choose their words carefully in order to fit them within the confined spaces of the comics. Kids will not only learn how to read a book in the traditional Japanese format, but they will also add to their vocabulary skills, making Manga a valuable choice no matter what the topic.

A great way to understand more about Manga is to ask your child about a series they enjoy. We find that most kids are eager to share their love of Manga with others, and they have lots of cool information about their favorite series!

If you are interested in picking up the latest popular Manga series, we work hard to have them available. We encourage you to request series we do not have, and we will do our best to stock up on those as well.

Some popular Manga titles we have at the Library are: Tokyo Ghoul, Assassination Classroom, Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia, RWBY, Fairy Tail, Promised Neverland, and many more.

Discover. Imagine. Connect @ Your Library Lindy Thomas is the Assistant Librarian at the Madison County Library