Reimagining Favorite Stories as Graphic Novels

There are so many kinds of graphic novels out there! Did you know there are quite a few titles and series that take your favorite stories and give them a modern twist? These graphic novels don’t just adapt a classic or nostalgic book into a graphic novel, they completely transform them into something new. 

This blog post was inspired by two amazing graphic novels written by Ivy Noelle Weir that completely transform classic stories. Anne of West Philly is a modern retelling of Anne of Green Gables. Anne Shirley moves to West Philly to live with her new foster parents and starts a whole new exciting life filled with new friends and experiences.

The Secret Garden on 81st Street is a modern retelling of The Secret Garden. After moving to New York City to live with her uncle, Mary discovers a rooftop garden in need of some help and begins to rebuild it with her cousin Colin and their new friend Dickon.

To be, or not to be... a graphic novel inspired by Shakespearean verse? Dad and daughter duo Jeremy and Hermione Tankard answer this question with the Yorick and Bones graphic novels. Based on sketches Jeremy drew when he was 7, Shakespeare Hamlet’s best friend Yorick comes back to life as a skeleton after a magical potion is spilled over his grave and is dug up by a dog. Yorick befriends the dog and names him Bones. The first installment is Yorick and Bones: The Last Graphic Novel by William Shakespeare.

What does nostalgic mean? Something is nostalgic when it is from the past and makes people happy when they think about it. The Animorphs is a book series from the 1990s where kids had the power to transform into animals they touch. It is nostalgic for many people who grew up reading the books. Animorphs: The Invasion follows five friends who turn into some pretty amazing creatures to battle an alien invasion in an action-packed graphic novel.

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy reimagines the sisters from the classic story Little Women as part of a modern family living in Brooklyn. With their dad overseas in the military, the March sisters in this graphic novel are all at different points in their lives growing up and they must find support in each other and their mom to get through both good times and some pretty tough times too.

The Baby-sitters Club graphic novel series also reimagines stories from a nostalgic book series. So far there are twelve different graphic novels based on the original Baby-sitter’s club book series. These graphic novels can be read in any order, but Kristy's Great Idea is the first one. It introduces Kristy and the rest of the baby-sitters crew.

If you like comics, you probably already know about the Dog Man series by Dav Pilkey. Did you know that a lot of the book titles are word-plays of classic book titles? For example, Dog Man: Mothering Heights borrows from the title Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.Inside the funny title, the Dog Man books are full of the excitement and laughs you expect from crime fighting Dog Man with a few more literary references.

Have you read any graphic novels inspired by other stories? Share your favorite graphic novels below and let us know what inspired them.