Bibliographic Information

Title: Teen Titans: Beast Boy Loves Raven

Author: Kami Garcia

Artist: Gabriel Picolo

Publisher: DC Comics 

Copyright Date: September 28, 2021

ISBN: 978-1779503862

Genre

Superhero

Format

Graphic Novel

Print Length

190 pages

Reading Level/Interest Level

Ages 13-17 (per Amazon)

Awards or Honors

None as of the date of this post.

Plot Summary

Raven and Gar have each left behind a troubled past to meet up with Slade, a man who might help them understand and control their mysterious powers. Their paths cross while looking for Slade in Nashville, and although they’re worried about the other discovering their secrets, a friendship (and maybe more) begins to blossom. When unknown assailants suddenly kidnap them, they risk revealing their powers to help each other and learn if the other will accept them for who they really are.

Author Background

Kami Garcia has her Master’s in Education and was a teacher for 17 years before co-authoring her first novel, Beautiful Creatures, in 2009. Since then she has co-authored and solo authored several books for young adults, as well as graphic novels for teens and adults. She is involved in many organizations dedicated to books and writing, including YALLFEST, the biggest teen book festival in the country, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and WriteGirl, a creative writing and mentoring organization for girls. She currently lives in Maryland with her family (Kami Garcia, 2024a).

Gabriel Picolo is a self-taught artist from Brazil who grew an impressive social media following in 2014 with his daily art postings. He soon took on freelance clients and started crowdfunding for his own graphic novel, Icarus and the Sun, in 2016. His online work caught the attention of DC Comics, who reached out to him about collaborating on a reboot of Teen Titans comics. He has been working with the publisher ever since (Knight, 2020).

Critical Evaluation

Beast Boy Loves Raven is the third book in this Teen Titans graphic novel series, but Kami Garcia has written it in such a way that readers new to the series or the Teen Titans universe can quickly catch up to who these characters are and what is happening. Gabriel Picolo’s amazing artwork helps with this, creating ready insight into the characters through compelling facial expressions, body language, and even the clothes they wear. (*Special nod here to the humorous graphic t-shirts both Raven and Gar wear throughout the book!)

There is a lot of intrigue and action packed into this graphic novel, with moments of real humor and charm. Though I stepped into the middle of the series with Beast Boy Loves Raven, I plan to go back to the start and read through so I can more fully enjoy Garcia and Picolo’s impressive work.

Creative Use for a Library Program

Beast Boy and Raven meet in Nashville and spend time touring local landmarks. Teens could be introduced to the history, culture, and food of Nashville through a virtual “tour” at the library.

Speed-Round Talk

Raven and Gar didn’t ask for their powers, but they’ll do whatever they can to control them. Even if that means sharing their secrets and learning to trust the growing bond between them.

Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation

I would not anticipate much pushback to the content of Beast Boy Loves Raven; it’s so clearly superhero fiction that I think most people would take it at face value as entertainment. The only pushback might be the question of whether graphic novels “deserve” a place in a young adult collection or add any value to it. There have been numerous articles defending the value of graphic novels, such as this one from Scholastic, and I would just be ready to share them.

Reason for Inclusion

Teen Titans remains a popular DC Comics franchise with teenagers (Miller, 2023) and this graphic novel series has been generating a lot of positive buzz online (Reilly, 2024). Given the strong interest, the high quality of the book, and the benefits of graphic novels (Alverson, 2024), Beast Boy Loves Raven is a worthwhile addition to this collection of contemporary materials for teens.

The Teen Titans graphic novel series, as of the date of this post: