By Nanette McGuinness

It’s that time of year again: San Diego Comic Con! 

For those who may not know, San Diego Comic Con is a huge four-and-a-half day lollapalooza of an annual convention celebrating all things comics related. There are panels with authors and actors; talks about art, craft, and cosplay; an immense, exciting, crowded and noisy convention hall full of booths and stands to make any fans’ eyes grow wide with delight;  gaming, autograph signing, anime, manga, and graphic novels; cosplay to knock your socks off; movie announcements and TV show previews; endlessly snaking lines; and (drum roll) the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. Named after path-breaking graphic novel creator Will Eisner, the Eisners award the best of the best in several dozen categories. Children’s graphic novels in translation typically can be found in the obvious categories—books for young readers—and perhaps less obvious—the two translation-specific categories of international material for readers of all ages. YA/Upper YA/New Adult and crossover comics often appear here.

While a number of other graphic novel awards exist—the prestigious Harvey Awards, the Ignatz, and the Sophie Castille Awards for Comics in Translation, to name some of the most famous ones—the Eisners are arguably the best known and often called the Oscars of the comics world. The awards process starts in spring, when a panel of judges chooses the nominees, after which industry professionals receive that list and cast their electronic votes. Then, on Friday night at Comic Con, everyone finds out who won.  

Every year, there are a number of excellent nominees (both translations and not). Here are the four nominated translated books for young readers that caught my fancy in 2025.

Club Microbe

More of an illustrated book than a graphic novel per se, Club Microbe is a fabulous, hilarious introduction for middle grade readers to the wonderful world of microorganisms. Gravel’s joy in addressing her chosen topic leaps off the page from the very start. “I’ve been waiting to write a book on microbes (or germs). They’re so fun to DRAW. I find them beautiful and FASCINATING. Microbes are living beings, but they aren’t animals, or plants, or insects. They don’t have legs, brains, mouths, or eyes. (Except in my drawings.)”  She goes on to talk about sizes and numbers, germs that cause disease, create bread and cheese, help create snowflakes, decompose dead matter, and glow in the dark, as well as how to avoid getting sick from germs (washing hands and vaccinations). The book is free of euphemisms and delightfully long Latin names abound throughout.

A riot of colors and whimsical shapes, Club Microbe will make germaphobes shudder and budding microbiologists do cartwheels. And readers at either extreme as well as all points between will find this fun book fascinating and insidiously educational.

**Nominated for Best Publication for Early Readers

The Jellyfish

Graphic novels excel at dealing with difficult topics and The Jellyfish does so beautifully. 

In this critically acclaimed Canadian import for upper YA readers, 20-year-old Odette works in a bookstore, has a pet rabbit, lives on their own and is struggling to figure out their place in the world.  One day, though, they discover a blob in their left eye. It’s a floater—the jellyfish of the title. Initially a frustrating distraction, it’s only visible internally. But then the jellyfish starts to multiply, obscuring Odette’s vision. They start a romance with Naine, who is escaping an abusive family life, but all the while, the jellyfish continue to increase. 

The author brings the reader along through Odette’s journey in learning to deal with their increasing disability with great empathy, depth, and sensitivity.

**Nominated for Best U.S. Edition of International Material

All Princesses Die Before Dawn

In this melancholy slice-of-life graphic novel imported from France for upper YA readers, we encounter three couples in various stages of relationships. Young Lulu likes to pretend to be a princess, has a crush on his best friend, and is figuring out that he’s gay. His  high school sister, Cam, hides the fact that her much-older boyfriend is sneaking in through her window and pushing her to have sex with him. Their mother sadly watches her husband, who is having an affair, get ready to leave the family. The death of Princess Di serves as a backdrop, the other princess of the book. 

This all sounds dreary, but it isn’t, perhaps in large part due to the beautiful, dreamy illustrations, which make everything the characters are going through much more bearable.

**Nominated for Best U.S. Edition of International Material

Kagurabachi, Volume 1

The first in a multi-volume upper YA/New A/crossover manga series, Kagurabachi is the story of Chihiro Rokuhira, whose blacksmith father Kunishige created seven enchanted swords that helped end the Seitei War. At the start of the book, the two have been hiding from enemies, but the powerful Hishaku sorcerers find Kunishige and murder him. Chihiro wields his father’s enchanted sword, Enten. As he learns its capacities, he seeks to avenge his father’s death and recover the other swords.

An immensely successful manga,  Kagurabachi is filled with magic, sorcery, abuse, battles, boatloads of violence, villains, rescues, victims, and, of course, our hero. While not for the squeamish or the faint of heart, its plot is both complicated and incredibly hard to put down.

**Nominated for Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia

As I write this, it’s Comic Con eve. Tomorrow, the hordes will descend on San Diego by train, plane, bus, trolley, and car–including me. By the time you read this for WorldKidLit month in September, though, the winners will have been announced. But I recommend you resist the temptation to peek and see who won! Google the list of nominees and read through the ones that intrigue you, including the four above. Then, and only then, look at the list of winners and see if your favs grabbed the brass ring—or in this case, the Eisner.

About Nanette McGuinness 

Opera singer and translator Nanette McGuinness is also the host/coproducer of “For Good Measure,” a podcast about diverse, underrepresented composers and other creatives. The Artistic Executive Director of the classical contemporary music group, Ensemble for These Times, she has sung 25 roles in 13 languages on two continents and has appeared on eight commercial recordings. An early reader and equally early bookworm, Nanette is a regular at San Diego Comic Con. No cosplay, though—she saves that for the stage.  Check out her 130+ translations  at https://athenatranslations.nanette.biz.

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