Help: comics for pre-teen girls!

Hello! I'm hoping you can help me out.

Every year, my sister celebrates my niece's birthday with a family gathering (both sides). I usually bring small, unusual gifts for all the kids there (5 of them, ages 5 to 12). All girls. One of those kids is a super smart 3rd grader who is good at math, but struggles with reading.

So I'm thinking of bringing a selection of comic books this year, hopefully the third grader will find something that interests her. So I need comic book suggestions that are girly, for girls ages 5, 8, 9 and 12 (give or take a year for each kid).

The trick is, I'm looking for titles that are easily found, preferably has a monthly or regularly released subscription, that an adult can subscribe to, if a certain kid finds the story interesting.

Second, these kids are raised in a fairly conservative household, so, it can't have anything too objectionable in it. Ms Marvel might be too much, which I've read, and liked. The kids won't care, but their parents will.

The 9 year old girl I'm trying to get to read is into Frozen, quiet, very kind, and math smart.

There's another 9 year old girl, whom I'm fairly certain already reads comics. She's probably the easiest of the bunch.

My 8 year old Niece once told me "comics are for boys", is quite girly, also likes the Princess in Black series by Shannon Hale.

Her older 12 year old cousin is a reader, into sports. I think she will read anything given to her.

My other Niece, the birthday girl, is turning 5, is goofy, is into frozen, and will be going preschool this year. She doesn't read yet. She's into bubble guppies, paw patrol, but I don't know how many titles are available for that age group.

I don't want to spend a lot of money on this, so no graphic novels. My budget for this is about 40 to 50 dollars. And I'm looking to get 6ish different titles, with one for the 5 year old kid, but the rest at the older ones.

Any suggestions? I know there is a lot of information in this post, but I'm trying to be sneaky about this :) I don't want to single anybody out, nor do I want parents to take away "inappropriate" material.

Thank you any help!

There are some lines for kids that you could check comics by Boom Studios, which produces comics for Disney like Incredibles and IDW, that produces My Little Pony (my daugthers love the cartoon).

There are also others that I think that are good and innofensive Mouse Guard, Bone, Herobear, Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and, why not, Pokemon, but I suggest you to check first for the people sensibility.

I'm an old lady now (or so I'm told) but I saved my Little Lulu collection and still enjoy it. Aside from the presence of Witch Hazel & Little Itch, there's nothing a conservative parent could object to; evil is always punished and good rewarded, and the stories are funny. Don't know if these comics can still be found, though; ask a dealer, or shop owner. Casper the Friendly Ghost was another Mama-approved title, but then I graduated to Dr Strange, a bit adult for your tykes!

Actually, I don't think I satisfied paragraph 4, but again, ask!

Roller Girl, Raina Telgemeier books like Sisters, Lumberjanes, Nameless City, A Wrinkle in Time Graphic Novel (faithful), El Deafo, Anya's Ghost, and Delilah Dirk would all seem to fit the bill, and they're really good.

The Ms. Marvel series gets a bit more advanced in a benign way, and is one of my favorites.

Your niece who likes The Princess in Black might also like Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale.

Good for you for taking this approach. We encouraged our kids to read anything that appealed to them, and they're now older and avid readers.

Ooh - Those all sound wonderful! Luckily my niece's birthday isn't until October- so I've got a bit of time! I'm thinking of sneaking in the Ms. Marvel for the 12ish kid (really, I'm bad at ages). She's an avid reader, and a bit independent, so I don't think her Mom will ask questions about it - it really is a great comic.

Thank You so Much!

>6 TheDivineOomba: You're welcome! I'm glad those work for you. Agreed re Ms. Marvel. G. Willow Wilson is an intriguing author.

Lots of good suggestions here. Maybe also the Babymouse series ?

Just catching up on this thread now. In case it isn't too late to be valuable to someone, here are my thoughts.

El Deafo was a great book. My nine-year old read it multiple times and we read it to our six year old. Very good, but a graphic novel so it might not fit.

There is a 15-comic series from Action Lab called "Nutmeg" (no links on LT) that my nine-year old really liked. I don't think it would be a problem in a conservative household but there is a revenge motive and boys so you might want to check it out.

It isn't a comic but I noticed your comment about "good at math, trouble reading" and I thought of Bookmarks Are People Too! #1 (Here's Hank) by Henry Winkler. It certainly made me feel for kids with issues reading. It might be something worth picking up and should fit into the budget.

Hopefully this helps.

A good one that came out since I posted last is Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier. Very popular.

Last week I've bought Finals Crisis, which is a tie-in for the Mattel's Super-Hero Girls line (dolls of Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl, etc). My 9 year old daughter is hooked on it.

Some good ones are Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson , Red's Planet by Eddie Pittman , Smile by Raina Telgemeier ,Sisters also by Raina Telgemeier , Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova and, Mighty Jack book 1 by I forget who. sorry. Good Luck!

The above are all good, but mostly graphic novels, so if you want something you can subscribe to:

for the princess-loving girls, there is a Disney Princess monthly comic! It's not winning awards but if what you want is a comic for little girls who love disney princesses, it delivers. There's also something of a rennaissance of princess-themed monthlies for girls right now: Princess Princess, Princeless, and Princess Ugg (although note that a lot of them are explicitly feminist and may have, fr ex,, acknowledgement that lgbt people exist in them.)

There's also a LOT of tie-in comics for current cartoons and video games, i.e. Pokemon or My Little Pony.

The five year old is tough; there just aren't a lot of monthly comics out there for the pre-reading crowd. Bubble Guppies, Paw Patrol, and their ilk do have a LOT of easy-reader picture books available, though, you might want to look at the easier end of those? Or if you want something subscribable, there are a lot of magazines aimed at that age group, many of them including comics. Sadly I think Cbeebies and Paw Patrol magazines are UK only, but I know Thomas & Friends and Sparkle World are available in the US.

If you would like more graphic novels: Phoebe and her Unicorn by Dana Simpson. There are 5 more graphic novels in that series and they are in the age group that you desire. And this one book where I forgot the author: Mighty Jack by Ben Hatke. Also the Lego magazine is a good one if any of the kids are into legos. It comes each month and it has activates and games for them to play with. Best of luck!

Also how could I forget: Squirrel Girl! If you like Ms Marvel Squirrel Girl works for a somewhat younger audience, is super amazing, and will also teach you how to count in binary on your fingers.

I'd also suggest the 7-book series Three Thieves, by Scott Chantler. My daughter first checked these out from our local library when she was perhaps 9, and re-read the early books enough times I decided to purchase the set this year. She's now 12 and relished reading them again.

My younger son (7) also enjoys reading them, both together and on his own. Additionally, his fav series is Bird & Squirrel, which my daughter liked to read though it is intended for a younger reader than she is.