BY BARRY WARNER

A course teaching kids to draw in “Manga” took place at Valley Cottage Library this summer.

Manga refers to a style of cartoons that are used in graphic novels that originated in Japan. The novels are usually published in installments, have in-depth plots and characters and can be several hundred pages long.

Art instructor Colleen McGowan said, “ Today the participants will be learning to draw Chibis, which are cute versions of manga characters that look like small children with oversized heads, big eyes, small bodies simple features and over-exaggerated expressions.”

The manga or graphic novel is read from top to bottom and right to left, following the traditional Japanese reading pattern. There are funny manga, action-packed manga and manga that tell realistic stories about believable characters. Superhero graphic novels seem to be the most popular form of comics that turned brief adventures into epic sagas.

In the library stacks there are graphic novels, researched by The Rockland County Times, that appeal to kids, teens and adults. For kids, there is the graphic novel “Zita, The Space Girl” by Ben Hatke. The theme involves Zita, spending her time with her best friend Joseph, when they stumble across a giant pit left by a meteoroid. They found a device with a red btton, Zita pushes it and a hole opens up in space!

Teens would enjoy the graphic novel ‘Amazing Agent Jennifer’ by Nunzio DeFillipis. When an important political figure is assassinated, Jennifer and her team become fugitives in the rogue state of Bruckinstein. Determined to learn the truth about the murder, Jennifer discovers that she may have been betrayed by someone close to her and there may be a conspiracy that goes deeper than she ever imagined.

Adults may enjoy reading the graphic novel ‘The Last Man’ by Brian K. Vaughn. Yorick Brown is an escape artist who is traveling in Australia and possesses a genetic make-up that has allowed him to survive a plague that killed every male being on the planet, except for him and his pet monkey. Yorick, in the resulting chaos, must find a way to help save the human race.

For further information: contact Valley Cottage Librarian Jennifer Daddio at 845-268-7700 or www.vclib.org