UK schoolkids rate graphic novels to promote reading, school libraries

The Stan Lee Excelsior Award announced on Tuesday that Satsuki Yoshino's Barakamon manga is among the eight graphic novels on the shortlist for next year's award. The other titles are Felipe Smith and Tradd Moore's All-New Ghost Rider: Engines of Vengeance , Brandon Montclare and Amy Reeder's Rocket Girl Volume 1, Pierre Veys and Carlos Puerta's Red Baron: The Machine Gunners' Ball , Charles Soule and Tony S. Daniel's Superman / Wonder Woman: Power Couple , Andrew Rae's Moonhead and the Music Machine , Bruno Gazzotti and Fabien Vehlmann's Alone: The Vanishing , and G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona's Ms. Marvel: No Normal .

The British award program aims to encourage reading among school children and promote graphic novels among school libraries and teachers. A group of students at each participating school (189 last year) rate the books on the shortlist, and the ratings result in awards for the top three. Books are eligible if they were published in the previous calendar year and are suitable for 11-16 year olds.

Yen Press publishes the Barakamon manga in English. The story, which follows a young calligrapher who moves to the countryside among quirky individuals, inspired a television anime this year.