Keeper of the Lost Cities The Graphic Novel: Volume 1, Part 1

Like the original series, the Keeper of the Lost Cities graphic novel features elf characters of many different skin tones, which is not an issue or source of discrimination in their culture. Both male and female characters appear in powerful roles -- positive and negative. What is a huge issue/source of discrimination (and could draw parallels with real-world forms of discrimination) is DNA, and how those considered a genetic "bad match" face a lifetime of social consequences for themselves and their children if they insist on marrying. Also a huge issue: waiting for your particular talent (like telepathy) to manifest, and fearing that it never will -- also a social disaster.

Sophie puts her human family -- and the cat -- to sleep with a potion so she can leave them forever for the elf world and they will have no memory of her. In the human world, Sophie is harassed and bullied, has no friends, and never fits in. A mysterious stranger tries to snatch her and is foiled by her kindly neighbor. The elf world seems like paradise in many ways, but there are hints of darker forces in play -- past deaths, torture and imprisonment cast long shadows, strange fires are consuming forests around Sophie's home, and it's clear that a lot of elf adults know more about her, what she is, and why she exists, than she does, and she doesn't have much control over any of it. Telepathy knocks Sophie and Fitz across a room in a practice session.

Sophie, 12, goes from being a social outcast in a human high school to having three slightly older boys and assorted male classmates really interested in her, which gets a little overwhelming. A girl her age who has a cute older brother complains she has a lot of fake friends who used her to get next to him.

Sophie gets called "freak" and the like by her human classmates. In the elf world, "bad match" (your parents didn't have Council approval to marry) is an insult that follows Dex in particular.