COMICS RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MIDDLE- AND HIGH-SCHOOLERS: “Bat-Mite” has suggestions. I note that when you get to the Sandman comment you’ll know why it’s such a good thing that I’m not a public-school children’s librarian. Everything in this post that follows is from Bat-Mite:

…Well, anyway, to help you with the recommendations. By the way, I can’t vouch for any literary merits these books may or may not have.

Grant Morrison’s ‘Marvel Boy’: This one is more for boys than girls I suppose. Alien teenager crashes on Earth, gets captured, escapes and then declares war on the entire planet because he thinks everyone is an idiot. After that, boy meets girl; boy falls in love; girl’s father is a supervillain. Nice book for any kid going through their alienation “Everyone is a moron” phase.

Jeff Smith’s ‘Bone’: I have only read the first book, but so far it’s a lovely non-threatening fantasy story genetically engineered to be likeable.

Sidekicks: It’s about a school where all the students and teachers are superheroes. The main character is a girl who has powers because her dad

was a sidekick when he was a kid. It deals a lot more with life in highschool (well, a highschool where the bully is a quasi omnipotent demonic magician, and your roomate can walk through walls) than with superheroing.

Zodiac P.I.: This one is is probably more for the Middle-School girls. If I were a 13 year old Japanese with braces, I would just love this series. I’m not, so what I just said was probably meaningless. Anyhoo, It’s about this school girl who is a detective, and she solves crimes with her love interest/competition classmate who is allergic to girls. The crimes go from theft to even murder, and they are more complicated than the usual Scooby Doo mystery. This series is kinda like Scooby Doo’s smarter sister. It presents the crime, and all the clues the main characters see, so you can try to solve the whole crime before the story is over. <— Sometimes the writer cheats, though.

Oh, and about your recommendations…

“Sandman. (Unless you think the local community would get super-sketched over its depiction of demons.)”

Dunno about the demons, but the parents might complain about all the nudity.

“I’ve heard good things about the Courtney Crumrin books”

It’s not a bad book by itself, it’s just all the ‘So goth it hurts!’ vibe it has. It’s very pessimistic, the world sucks, you are ugly, and your parents don’t like you kind of book. Also, sorry if I spoil you the end, but near the end of the first book, [cut–Eve]. Call me a wuss, but I don’t think that’s a nice message. But any girl going through a goth phase will probably like it.

Ok, hope that helped ya.