Welcome Librarians!

As graphic novels and comics are increasingly appreciated as a legitimate literary format, BOSCO'S has been getting requests from librarians and teachers to help them find appropriate graphic novels for young readers.

Click the links below for lists we have developed. These DO NOT include all of the graphic novels and manga that we have. We carry thousands of titles. These lists are just to get you started.

YALSA's The Top Great Graphic Novels for Teens for 2012
Youth List
Young Teen List
Young Adult List

BOSCO'S Order Form

Diamond Comic Distributors "Bookshelf"

The Secret Origin of Good Readers
Take a day off! This has lesson plans involving comics ready for you!

We want to talk to you! BOSCO'S can send a team to your group to talk about how comics are more than just words and pictures combined, but have a "language" of their own. We will also bring graphic novels and provide lists that we and librarians across the country recommend for different age groups.

Special deal for librarians. BOSCO'S offers 20% discount off the suggested retail price for purchases of graphic novels and manga by public or school libraries. Graphic novels and manga already on sale will be sold at the sale price or 20% off the suggested retail price which ever is lower. We only offer this program through our Spenard store.

Librarians may purchase off our shelves or they can fax (907) 274-4117 or email an order to orders (at) boscos.com. We'll pull it for later pickup. We can deliver or pay shipping costs within Alaska for orders over $150 after the discount (that's about 13 or 14 books).

BOSCO'S is set up as a vendor to the Anchorage School District and offers a discount for orders from libraries.

We love comics and want to get more of them into your library! Please contact us if there is anything we can do to help.

BOSCO'S is located at 2606 Spenard Road and in the Dimond Center. Call Eric Helmick for more information at (907) 274-4112.

For some comic relief, check out Unshelved!

Join BOSCO'S email list for librarians Email:

A Native Lad.
A graphic novel history written, drawn
and published by Alaskans!

Learn more ... Click here

Be sure to take a look at this year's Eisner Award winners.

These are chosen by retailers and other professionals in the industry. They will not all be appropriate for all ages. They do typically represent high quality art and stories.

'Library Wars: Love & War'
" ... Imagine Fahrenheit 451 as a shojo manga, and you wouldn’t be far off..."

"In Sarah Hurst's brisk journey through Alaska's history, we meet dozens of historical figures and learn about the big impact events that led us to today. "

Number crunching: How Looking at Graphic Novel Circulation Statistics from Many Perspectives Help You Know What's Really Flying Off the Shelves School Library Journal November 2009

Nick Smith of the Pasadena Public Library on 'Startling' Circulation Stats Advice for Fellow Librarians Published by ICV2.com : 05/13/2009 01:05am Nick Smith of the Pasadena Public Library writes in to offer some advice to his fellow librarians regarding building graphic novel areas in their libraries: For those of you who need ammunition in getting your administration to let you create separate graphic novel areas, I have recently received some startling circulation statistics.

After a long struggle, our library got separate graphic novel labels and shelving areas for adult, YA, JRHI and Juvenile graphic novels. I have started gathering circulation statistics covering what happens, now that these areas are separate and visible.

Among other things, the increase in the circulation of the Juvenile graphic novels is astounding. From July 1 of 2008 through March 31 of 2009, the average copy of our juvenile graphic novels circulated 16 times! By comparison, the average juvenile novel circulated 3 times. That's more than a fivefold increase, which is a LOT more than I expected.

For the Junior High collection, the average graphic novel circulated 6 times, compared to 3 for the comparable text novels.

For the YA collection, the circulation of graphic novels is also about double that of the comparable novels. What made this interesting is that until recently, our YA novels included a lot of graphic novels that hadn't been re-cataloged. THOSE started flying off the shelves once they were moved to the Graphic Novel shelves.

We are still waiting for the adult numbers, but the juvenile ones are amazing. Whatever we add to that collection flies off the shelf.

Food For Thought for Comic Book Skeptics

Comics have the power to move, to inspire and to teach. Additionally, comics are the only form of entertainment that are both "right-brained" and "left-brained," evoking cognitive and interpretive skills in readers simultaneously.

BOSCO'S is happy to provide assistance to those who are attempting to use comic books as a learning tool. We have worked for years with progressive teachers and librarians who recognize the power of comics in the classroom.

Many students first find the love of reading by reading comics.

"One of the things I am very grateful to my father for is that, contrary to conventional educational principles, he allowed me to read comics. I think that is how I developed a love for English and for reading." ---- Nobel Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu

"A commonly overlooked area for read-aloud is the comic book, and my first choice would be the incomparable TINTIN… A comic can be viewed as an interesting sequential diagram of conversation --- a language blueprint. Once the blueprint is understood, the child will be ready and willing to follow it on his own without your reading it aloud." ---- author and educator Jim Trelease from "The Read-Along Handbook" (for more than 20 years this book has been recommended reading for elementary school teachers and parents)

FACT: The average comic book introduces children to nearly twice as many new words as the average children's book and more than five times as many as the average child-adult conversation. (From a 1993 study published in The Journal of Child Language)

FACT: A 1992 study of more than 200,000 students from 32 countries revealed that Finland, the nation with the highest proportion of comic book reading students (nearly 60%), also has the highest literacy rate (99%), as well as the highest library usage.