Enola Holmes: The Graphic Novels Book One

Written by: Nancy Springer and Serena Blasco

First line: Enola, you'll manage well on your own, won't you?

Why you should read this book: I usually find graphic novel adaptations woefully inadequate, but as I haven't read the original book (although I did see both films on Netflix) this one seemed decent to me. Young Enola, the little sister of Mycroft and Sherlock, has no interest in being forced into a corset or the role of a lady, and when her mother disappears, she employs her considerable intellect to escape the confines of the life others have laid out for her. Donning a variety of disguises, she runs away to London and sets up shop as a specialist in missing persons cases, managing to find several missing persons while successfully evading her brothers, without making much headway in finding her mother. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: I'm guessing the original novel is better. It usually is. 

Fagin the Jew

Written by: Will Eisner

First line: I was born Moses Fagin, the only son of Abraham and his wife, Rachael.

Why you should read this book: An older, wiser Eisner, toward the end of his life began to examine the racist stereotypes he employed during his career as a cartoonist, and sought to make amends by telling more honest stories about his own people, the Jews. In this unusual volume, he imagines a backstory for the villain Fagin in Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, one that recognizes the difficulties of life in Dickensian England and the paucity of opportunities for most Jews. Fagin learns crime as a child because there is no other way to survive, and even when he tries to become an upstanding citizen, a single incident sends an otherwise kind, loving, and hardworking man into a life of constant wrongdoing, for lack of any other options in survival.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You've never read Oliver Twist.