Brigid Alverson

These graphic novels—all featuring girls as the main characters—bring the camp experience to life, complete with campfires, cabins, and cliques. For kids stuck at home due to COVID-19, a good camping book is the next best thing to being there—maybe better, depending on how you feel about spiders.

Lively action-adventure tales that typically feature large casts of memorable characters, shonen manga is the best-selling manga in the United States. Brigid Alverson names her top picks in shonen manga, most for grades 7 and up.

With her new graphic novel series “The Weirn Books,” creator Svetlana Chmakova steps away from the sunny classrooms of Berrybrook Middle School to another school in a darker realm.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shuttered schools. With libraries, bookstores, and comic shops mostly off-limits as well, readers are going online, and publishers and creators have responded with free comics and related resources. Here’s a look at those offerings.