If you are looking for a good graphic novelist, Raina Telgemeier is one to check out. However, she usually writes for the 10 and up crowd, but with The Cartoonists Club: A Graphic Novel (along with Scott McCloud) she has hit the slightly younger aged 8 to 12 range a little more solidly. The format is a mixture of a story (four friends, who started out mostly not knowing each other, form a comic book club so they can make comics) and factual information about making those comics. We break the fourth wall several times when the teacher (who is also their advisor) and the students explain things about what is being talked about.
This is both neat and a bit startling, at least at first. I was oh la de da, we’re learning you fold, cut, staple…. Oh HELLO student talking directly to “me.” The sections are both logical and seemingly “common sense” (Such as the first step is to have an Idea) but others explain the relationship between creator and reader (what does the reader do for the story), so they vary in complexity. This mixture keeps you interested, does not talk down to the reader and gives some interesting ideas (such as who knew the reader has so much work to do to help the creator?)
The art is classic Telgemeier, but perhaps a bit more simple than usual. This does not mean that it is “less than” or overly simplistic, just that the text moves the story more than the art has done in the past or could do now.