Sidecrollers by Matthew Loux

Brian, Brad, and Matt just graduated from high school and are spending their summer days lounging around playing video games and eating Slim Jims and candy.  Their peaceful laziness is interrupted by Amber, the cute new girl in town that Matt has an intense crush on.  She’s dating the school bully, Richard (not so lovingly referred to as Dick), and the guys decide to get off their butts and try to get her away from him.  This leads to a hilarious adventure involving vicious girl scouts, a ketchup fight in a mall food court, a cat possessed by the devil, an indie rock concert, and a lot more.

I thought that Sidescrollers was an excellent graphic novel because of the natural, quirky dialogue and the way that the pictures and the text work together perfectly.  The slacker protagonists seemed like people that I would want to hang out with and their awesome conversations (like which breakfast cereal mascot would win in a fight) made me laugh so hard I was snorting.  This graphic novel is perfect for Teen Read Week because it will crack you up as you follow these guys on their crazy videogame rock & roll adventure!