Finding a good graphic novel to read with my young son is always a challenge. Most mainstream graphic works – mainly single issues of Spider-Man or Batman sold as one complete work – are too violent, dark or complicated for my son. They’re not as much fun as the old Spider-Man comics I used to read back in the ‘70s when I was a kid.

And those graphic novels targeted expressly at pre-teens? My son considers most of them dull. He wants adventure, not morals.

We did enjoy Jeff Smith’s Bone series. And it’s always fun to read Marvel’s repackaged Marvel Team-Up stories from the early ‘70s, part of the company’s Essentials line. The pickings, though, are scarce.

That’s why I was thrilled to discover City of Light, City of Dark, an original young-adult graphic novel written by Newberry Medal-winning children’s author Avi (That’s the only name he uses) and illustrated by artist Brian Floca. It’s a true adventure tale. The pre-teen heroes face, and overcome, major challenges. The villain is evil. His plot is clever. And the story twists and turns until the final panels. In short, it’s a rousing adventure, and one that easily kept my 8-year-old son’s attention from the first page to the last.

Here’s a brief summary of the tale: Two young heroes – Carlos and Estella – must stop an evil old man from turning Manhattan into a giant ice cube. Sound simple? It's not. That brief description doesn’t begin to do justice to the many twists and turns in City of Light. There’s a reason Avi has won the most prestigious honor a U.S. children’s book author can win: He knows how to tell a great tale, and he does it without talking down to his young audience.

If you’re looking for a good graphic novel for your pre-teens to read – or if your young reader simply wants to tackle a graphic novel alone – find City of Light, City of Darkness, now available from Scholastic. It’ll give you chance to put down those 1970s-era Spider-Man comics for a night or two. And that can’t be a bad thing. (Have you seen those groovy vests Peter Parker wore back then?)