Walking into the Lewis-Palmer library, one will find that there will usually be a supply of Manga books lining the section that is dedicated to manga books. On one side of the section, there are large collections of manga series and the other side contains smaller series.

Manga is a highly popular book genre among the students, and a club known as Anime Club has been dedicated that genre. The club is sponsored by Carrie Hendrix, teacher at Lewis-Palmer High School, and meets Wednesday’s after school from 3:00 to 4:30 in room 227. There the books are enjoyed by Manga and Anime enthusiasts.

“I know some kids really don’t like reading. Mainly it’s just a lot of pictures and you just get drawn into it because there’s cliffhangers and people will just keep reading them. I don’t read anything besides Manga. I’m not a big reader,” Lauren Pleus, 12, said.

The Manga novels are read from the back to the front and right to left like books in Japanese culture. They include a good amount of Japanese culture, and range in genres like science fiction, comedy and drama.

“Right now I’m reading Fruits Basket. It’s about these guys and if they get hugged by a girl they turn into animals of the Chinese Zodiac,” Pleus said.

Most of the series contain about 30 books each which can take a typical reader anywhere between a day and a year to finish the complete series. When the students check them out, they check out between three and four at a time because they go through them so quickly. And they are back in the library looking for more within the next day or two.

Popularity for this genre grows as friends lend the books to their peers and interest is sparked when someone sees one of their peer reading a book that is out of the ordinary.

“My friend, Katie got me into it a couple years ago when she let me borrow some of hers,” Pleus said.

As the popularity in Manga books rise in Lewis-Palmer, the novels are checked out on a daily basis, and the library staff hurries to get them back on the shelf for the next student. This Japanese version of comic books continues to keep the students of Lewis-Palmer reading on a daily basis.