(no subject)

[allie]

Guys.

I need a comic book or manga series appropriate for a seven year old girl. We are talking G-rated here. If it's manga, it has to be flipped, since she just learned to read and I don't want her to get confused about reading direction.

She mentioned that she wished she had comic books to read, and I was like "*chinstroke* oh reeeeally."

Now, remember, seven. Absolutely minimal violence (someone getting punched in chibi form etc is fine), no overt sexuality, no profanity. G-rated. I think that she'd prefer some kind of fantasy series to, say, Archie, so I told her I'd ask my friends. She normally hates reading, but recently told me that she thinks she'd enjoy reading comic stories. Not, say, Calvin and Hobbes, but there's a new movement in kids' writing for simple books in comic form, but she doesn't like most of the ones her brother has (read: all) and I thought something long and divided into volumes that she might not otherwise find might help.

OH OH OH OH bonus points for a strong, well-written female protagonist.

Comments

[lokogato.livejournal.com]

... I actually can't think of a single manga series I've read that was actually age-appropriate. Except perhaps for the Pokemon serialisations, but even then there is definitely Charizard-on-Charizard violence ... and also a lack of plot.

I did read a comic book adaptation of Rapunzel in a bookstore a few months back, but it was just one (lengthy, but not a serial) book. It was pretty awesome, though, with a kickass Rappunzel and a fun re-imagining of the fairytale. I believe it was called Rappunzel's Revenge. 8Db

[blinkinghell.livejournal.com]

Kid I looked after started reading Kodocha because of me. REGRETTED THAT WHEN I ACTUALLY READ A LITTLE.

+Anima is safe and cute though :)

[leafing.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest The Adventures of Tintin since it's technically a children's comic and is one of the things I read that doesn't contain gratuitous violence/profanity, but there are biggish words. And overt racism. And dudes with guns and knives. And Captain Haddock.

Man this is harder than it probably should be.

[miltia.livejournal.com]

I'm not too certain how attracted this girl is to cute things, but if you can find them (Barnes and Noble should have them, but they're hard to come by where I live), the Happy Happy Clover (http://z.about.com/d/manga/1/0/5/p/-/-/HappyHappyClover1_500.jpg) manga could work. It's about these rabbits who attend school and is all sorts of adorable, and other than not being sure if it's flipped, I think it hits all your other criteria.

[jennifer.livejournal.com]

Actually, the Baby-sitters Club now has graphic novels? But. She'll probably want something less realistic.

That said, http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/540000654.html has a lot of really good recs, and they're sorted by age.

[miltia.livejournal.com]

...Do they really? Man, I wish they'd had that when I was growing up. I could never get enough of BSC.

[jennifer.livejournal.com]

They do! I have the first 3. xD;

[miltia.livejournal.com]

XD I'll have to keep an eye out next time I'm in Barnes and Noble.

[continuum.livejournal.com]

Watchmen

What about Sonic the Hedgehog? It's got a touch of fantasy and since the games are rated E, I assume the comics are probably along the same lines.

But idk, most comic books tend to have borderline PG-style cartoon violence. Then again, I mean, I find Disney movies to be pretty violent and kids are just fine watching them, lol, so.

I'd recommend Discworld's graphic novels, but there's a severed limb in that one, so probably not. ;;

OH AND. What about the Oh My Goddess! series? Wasn't that the manga where Skuld was from? I googled it and it sounds like it doesn't have anything bad in it at all, but I didn't look too closely. It does have female protagonists, though. IDK in googling this one, I also discovered Hikaru no Go which sounds suitable as well.

[miltia.livejournal.com]

On the Sonic comics, the Archie ones can actually get pretty dark at points, depending on the storyline, but I want to say those aren't until you get much further in. :|a Could be worth looking into for her. They've been re-releasing them, too, as collections called Sonic Archives.

Not sure about the Sonic X manga, but if it follows the anime closely at all, then that could be better than the Archie Sonic comics.

[continuum.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think children's stories in general can hit that dark spot, haha, even when it seems totally innocent. THE GIVING TREE, anyone? I'm still disturbed by that story to this day. ;;;

[laverinth.livejournal.com]

Oh My Goddess would contain some adult themes. It's also kinda long.

[lokogato.livejournal.com]

^ Seconding Lauren in that Oh My Goddess definitely has fanservicey moments. It's also kind of a harem manga in the sense of nice-but-average-joe is abruptly saddled with women who are more intelligent, more powerful, and more attractive than he is, but all inexplicably want to cater to his every whim and earn his approval. So inasmuch as strong female protags, idk ...

Hikaru no Go is a fun one, though! Learn history and a complicated board game with FLASHING ACTION LINES! Though I'm not sure it's flipped from what I remember, and there are basically no girls in it, haha.

[little-serenity.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I will say that I don't think there are many manga around that don't read left-to-right. They stopped doing that when they realized that it severely messed up the artwork in some cases. ^^;;

I feel, though, that if you explained why the book was that way, and that not all books read that way, it would be okay? Unless she's a particularly dim 7-year-old...?

As for recommendations, Fruits Basket is cute, though it does have it's kind of creepy moments/crossdressing. DNAngel has pretty art and little to no fighting, though the plot can be a little confusing sometimes. Uhhh... *thinks* Cardcaptor Sakura is cute and also has little to no physical fighting, but it (derp) has a gay couple that isn't specifically states as gay and Tomoyo really has a thing for Sakura--if this girl's mother would flip out about that.

I'll keep thinking, but those are my three recs. :3

[madoukishi.livejournal.com]

If you want something that's kid friendly, has a female heroine, and reads the "American" way in its printed form, I would strongly recommend Saint Tail. It's the first manga that I had my little sister read when she was about 8 or 9, and there's absolutely nothing in it that I can think would be offensive.

It's about this Catholic school girl whose best friend is a nun-in-training and together they steal back things that were wrongfully taken and return them to their proper owners, exposing the true thief, etc. At least that's the basic idea. ANYWAY. That's what I recommend. XD