WFirst Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual essays, and comics journalism.
WAmerican Born Chinese is a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. Released in 2006 by First Second Books, it was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Awards in the category of Young People's Literature. It won the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award, the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album: New, the Publishers Weekly Comics Week Best Comic of the Year, the San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year, the 2006/2007 Best Book Award from The Chinese American Librarians Association, and Amazon.com Best Graphic Novel/Comic of the Year. It also made the Booklist Top Ten Graphic Novel for Youth, the NPR Holiday Pick, and Time Top Ten Comic of the Year. It was colored by cartoonist Lark Pien, who received the 2007 Harvey Award for Best Colorist for her work on the book.
WANIMUS is a graphic novel written and illustrated by French cartoonist Antoine Revoy. Part ghost story, part detective-fiction, it was published by First Second Books on the 8th of May 2018.
WBoxers and Saints are two companion graphic novel volumes written and illustrated by Gene Luen Yang, and colored by Lark Pien. The publisher First Second Books released them on September 10, 2013. Together the two volumes have around 500 pages.
WCheck, Please! is a 2013 webcomic written and illustrated by Ngozi Ukazu. The webcomic follows vlogger and figure-turned-ice hockey skater Eric "Bitty" Bittle as he deals with hockey culture in college, as well as his identity as a gay man. Ukazu provides fans of Check, Please! a variety of extra content through her Tumblr and a dedicated Twitter account, establishing a piece of transmedia storytelling to expand on worldbuilding. A large fan base has accumulated around Check, Please!, and when Ukazu set up a Kickstarter campaign to fund the physical release of a first volume of the webcomic, she reached her goal with ease. In November 2019, Ukazu started up a Kickstarter to fund a Check Please! "chirpbook" containing Bitty's best tweets. The Kickstarter surpassed her goal within a single day.
WCucumber Quest is an adventure webcomic written and illustrated by Gigi D.G. since April 3, 2011. The comic features the character Cucumber and his sister Almond traveling across a fictional world in order to defeat the Nightmare Knight, meeting various friends and foes on the way. The childfriendly comic has multiple volumes in print thanks to crowdfunding.
WThe Dam Keeper is a 2014 American animated short film directed by Robert Kondo and Daisuke Tsutsumi. It tells the story of Pig, an introverted youth who lives in a windmill and keeps a dark fog from engulfing his town. Although socially rejected by his peers, he is befriended by the artistic Fox.
WDeogratias: A Tale of Rwanda is a graphic novel written and drawn by Jean-Philippe Stassen, published by First Second Books.
WFriends with Boys is a 2012 graphic novel and webcomic by Faith Erin Hicks. The book was first published on February 28, 2012 through First Second Books. The company, who had licensed the work prior to its release in any format, gave Hicks permission to post the book online as a webcomic prior to its publication.
WThe Kampung Boy, also known as Lat, the Kampung Boy or simply Kampung Boy, is a graphic novel by Lat about a young boy's experience growing up in rural Perak in the 1950s. The book is an autobiographical account of the artist's life, telling of his adventures in the jungles and tin mines, his circumcision, family, and school life. It is also the basis for the eponymous animated series broadcast in 1999. First published in 1979 by Berita Publishing, The Kampung Boy was a commercial and critical success; its first printing was sold out within four months of its release. Narrated in English with a smattering of Malay, the work has been translated into other languages, such as Japanese and French, and sold abroad.
WLaika is a graphic novel by Nick Abadzis that gives a fictionalized account of the life and death of the eponymous dog, the first living creature launched in orbital spaceflight.
WLaura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me is a graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell. It follows Frederica "Freddy" Riley throughout her struggles with her on-again, off-again relationship with the eponymous Laura Dean. The novel was first published by First Second Books on May 7, 2019. A young adult and lesbian teen novel, Laura Dean includes themes about teenage lesbian and queer sexuality.
WThe Photographer: Into War-torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders is a nonfiction graphic novel by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, and Frédéric Lemercier. The Photographer tells the true story of Didier Lefèvre, a French photojournalist, who accompanied a Médecins Sans Frontières mission during the height of the Soviet–Afghan War in 1986. The book interweaves Lefèvre's black-and-white photographs and Guibert's illustrations—combined with captions and word balloons—to create the narrative.
WSpinning is a graphic novel memoir by cartoonist Tillie Walden that was first published by First Second Books on September 12, 2017. The memoir chronicles Walden's years coming-of-age as a competitive figure skater, as she navigates romance, bullying and various traumas. It won the 2018 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work.
WThis One Summer is a graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki published by First Second Books in 2014. It is a coming of age story about two teenage friends, Rose and Windy, during a summer in Awago, a small beach town. Rose and Windy discover themselves and their sexuality while battling family dynamics and mental disabilities. Mariko Tamaki based the town of Awago on a Canadian cottage her family used to visit. Cousins Mariko and Jillian have worked together on previous novels and aim to have more equality and representation for minorities in their pieces of literature. The graphics in the novel are entirely purple-blue and powerful enough to place the readers in the specific scene. Many literary reviewers find this novel to be extremely impactful and essential for adolescents to read. Due to the content in the novel, This One Summer has also been censored and listed on the American Library Association’s “Top Ten Most Challenged Books” list in 2016 and 2018 for the use of its sexual scenes and mature topics. The novel has also won numerous awards including the distinguished Caldecott Honor in 2015.