Whether you are a teacher, parent or student I think everyone should explore the wonderful world of Graphic Novels. I reached for these texts very reluctantly over a year ago, for two very good reasons. Firstly, a few young people in
my life were struggling with reading and I thought this genre might be more accessible, and secondly, I was co-organizing a Graphic Novel Book Club for the Grade 9 applied classes. Both of these groups were having trouble connecting to books through independent reading and I thought perhaps Graphic Novels could the gateway to literacy.
I had lots of personal reasons not to like Graphic Novels. I was never a superhero fan, so the North American Marvel-style GN didn't interest me and the Japanese style Manga had to read backwards - this was enough to frighten me off. But when I really reached back into my memory bank, I realized that I used to devour Archie Comic Books back in the late 1970s. So there must be some graphic novels out there that would appeal to me and my students. The search was on.
The three things I knew for sure, I wanted to: (1) give the students choice (that made sense too for my daughter and her friends), (2) let them see themselves in the books - diversity is so important, and (3) show them all the different styles of GNs. The classroom teacher, our community public librarian, and myself explored many texts.
We offered 10 different ones hoping the students could choose one that might get them excited about reading.
Here's our top picks over the past few semesters: One-Punch Man by Yusuke Murata, Boxer by Gene Luen Yang, Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol, Bone by Jeff Smith, Through the Woods by Emily Carroll, Fantasy Sports by Sam Bosma and Ms Marvel by G. Willow Wilson.
Their selection were as varied as the students in the class.
After the book club sessions were over, the biggest complaint, from the students and their teachers, was that they read the book too fast. Wow, how often do you heard English teachers say that! The classroom teacher created amazing question to help guide the live book club discussion which allowed the students to make great connections. On
the final day of the book club I showed other books by the same author and some students signed out another graphic novel. Another win!
I have to admit Graphic Novels have won me over. I am constantly looking for new ones to engaged our students and also my daughter. This is a genre that is exploding, and I can hardly keep up. My only question - why do they have to be so expensive? I remember Archie comics being only $0.50! Well I guess that's another reason why school library bookshelves should be stacked with multiple copies of these amazing gems.