YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association has made its 2007 picks for the top 10 graphic novels for teenage readers.  The top ten chosen by YALSA is a diverse group that includes just one manga, Viz Media's Death Note (by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata), along with two graphic novels published by Marvel, Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E (Warren Ellis,Stuart Immonen) and Runaways (Brian K. Vaughan, Adrian Alphona), three from DC Comics, Identity Crisis (Brad Meltzer, Rags Morales), Sloth (Gilbert Hernandez, Jared K. Fletcher), and Pride of Badhdad (Brian K. Vaughan, Niko Henricho), and one from Image, Death Jr. (Gary Witta, Ted Naifeh).

 

Three volumes from leading independent graphic novel publishers were also chosen including First Second's American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, which was the first graphic novel to win the prestigious Michael L. Printz Award (see 'American Born Chinese Wins Printz Award').  Linda Medley's Castle Waiting (from Fantagraphics Books) and Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan's Demo: The Collection (from Ait/Planet Lar) also made the YALSA Top Ten Graphic Novels list, which was not ranked -- it was arranged alphabetically by author's last name.  Brian K. Vaughan was the only creator to place two titles in the top ten.

 

YALSA also created a list of some 60-odd 'Great Graphic Novels For Teens,' which can be found here.