Read this when
Heartstopper (graphic novels)
Soft queer love, but make it honest. 🍂 'Hi.' 'Hi.'
Who it's for
The simple, expressive art and short panels make emotional moments land without heavy text, so readers absorb safety and tenderness almost physically.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Alice Oseman's Heartstopper is an illustrated series that began as a webcomic in 2016 and has been collected in print volumes. It follows Charlie Spring, a Year 10 student at Truham Grammar School who has recently been outed as gay, and Nick Nelson, a popular Year 11 rugby player, who meet when they are seated together in form. Their friendship grows into a romance as Nick comes to realise he is bisexual.
Where to find it
In print (Hachette/Graphix); widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla, where held). The original webcomic is free to read online (Tapas/Tumblr). Netflix series adaptation. Not public domain.
Before you start
Heads up: Self-harm and disordered eating.
Age: Ages 12+
There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide;Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series, “Self-Reliance”
