Graphic%20Novels%20in%20My%20Classroom?

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Graphic Novels in My Classroom?

• Larry Bedenbaugh
• UCF College of Education
• 8th Annual Literacy Symposium

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Food for Thought

• My father used to try and help me, and I got to
  loving to read, because he allowed me to read
  comics, which most people said you shouldn't let
  your child read because they will spoil him. But
  that gave me an extraordinary hunger for
  reading.
• Bishop Desmond Tutu
• Nobel Prize Winner

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Food for Thought

• On the basis of my personal experience and the
  research available, I would go so far as to say
  if you have a child who is struggling with
  reading, connect him or her with comics. If an
  interest appears, feed it with more comics.
• Jim Trelease
• Author and Educator

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Food for Thought

• As one of only five art forms native to America
  the banjo, jazz, musical comedy, the mystery
  novel, and the humble comic book, comic books
  deserve their place in our history, our culture,
  and our society."
• David Jay Gabriel, President
• New York City Comic Book Museum

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Food for Thought

• The great sorrow of my life is never having done
  comics.
• Pablo Picasso

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Food for Thought

• "Graphic novels are terrific in that they have a
  good story but they have pictures and images that
  teens can relate to and enjoy. So you get the
  combination of the words and the images that help
  pick up on the power of images in teens' lives."
• Maurice Freedman, President American Library
  Association

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What are Graphic Novels?

• Will Eisner who initiated the term graphic
  novels, said they are Sequential Artthe
  arrangement of pictures or images and words to
  narrate a story or dramatise an idea.

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What are Graphic Novels?

• Keith R. A. DeCandido, an international
  best-selling author, defined a graphic novel as
  a self contained story that uses a combination
  of text and art to articulate the plot.

Middle
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What are Graphic Novels?

• Diamond Comics defines graphic novels
• A comic book that is longer in format than a
  pamphlet, and typically contains a complete story
  unto itself. Graphic novels usually have higher
  production values than the typical stapled comic
  book they may be squarebound, for example, with
  cardstock covers. Some may be hardcover volumes.
  Although a graphic novel usually stands on its
  own as a complete story, it is possible to have a
  ongoing series or limited series of graphic
  novels telling a single story or series of
  related stories.

High
10
What are Graphic Novels?

• ALA RUSA Codes Materials Reviewing
• Committee defines graphic novels as
• Books created in the format recognized as
  graphic novels are presented in sequential art,
  with the requirement upon creator and reader to
  work between image and word for a full
  understanding of narrative content. Such books
  usually include a structure of panels. For review
  purposes, graphic novels include independently
  conceived full-length narratives, bound volumes
  of longer sequential art series, and collections
  of works as brief as comic strips.

Middle
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Genres of Graphic Novels

• Superhero
• Fantasy
• Science fiction
• Historical
• Action/Adventure
• Realistic Fiction
• Biography
• Adaptations of classics
• Manga (Japanese comics)
• Humor
• Horror
• Romance
• Political commentary

Middle
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Types of Graphic Novels

• Human Interest Story
• Adaptations or Spin-offs
• Satire (Cartoon Journalism)
• Nonfiction
• Superhero
• Manga

Middle
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Milestones

• 1837
• The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck earliest known
  comic book

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Milestones

• 1897
• The Yellow Kid in McFaddens Flats coined the
  phrase, comic book
• Beginning of the Platinum Age

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Milestones

• 1934
• Famous Funnies 1

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Milestones

• 1939
• Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster create Superman,
  one of the first modern superheroes
• Begins the Golden Age of Comics

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Milestones

• 1954
• Dr. Frederic Wertham published Seduction of the
  Innocent, condemning comic books as a negative
  influence on young children

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Milestones

• 1954
• US Senate investigates the relationship between
  comic books and juvenile delinquency

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Milestones

• 1954
• Comics Code Authority (analogous to Hollywoods
  Code, but far stricter)

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Milestones

• 1956
• The Silver Age of Comics begins

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Milestones

• 1961
• Marvel publishes Fantastic Four 1

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Milestones

• 1978
• Will Eisner writes 1st graphic novel, A Contract
  with God and Other Tenement Stories

High
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Milestones

• 1992
• Art Spiegelman, won the Pulitzer Prize for his
  1986 Maus I, an examination of the Holocaust

Middle/High
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Milestones

• 1997
• Doug Murray, won the Best Media of the Vietnam
  War Award from the Bravo Organization for The Nam

Middle/High
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Milestones

• 2000
• In November The New York Times Book Review
  includes a review of four graphic novels

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Milestones

• 2001
• Chris Wares graphic novel, Jimmy Corrigan, won
  Britains Guardian First Book Award

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Milestones

• 2002
• The American Library Association's 2002 Teen Read
  Week theme was Getting Graphic _at_ Your Library

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Milestones

• 2002
• C.O.M.I.C.S. (Challenging Objective Minds An
  Instructional Comicbook Series), by Dan Tandarich
  with the New York City Comic Book Museum, is
  developed to teach reading and writing skills

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Milestones

• 2002
• First Annual Free Comic Book Day

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Urban Legends of Graphic Novels

• Nudity
• Sex and innuendo
• Excessive violence
• Sexist
• Inappropriate language
• Crude humor
• Frivolous entertainment
• Short on redeeming social, educational, or moral
  value
• Typically written at a fourth to sixth grade
  reading level
• Hinders literacy development

Adult
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What Does the Research Say?

• In 1981, Lee Dorrell and Ed Carroll performed a
  study in which the mere presence of comic books
  in a collection increased library use 82, with a
  30 increase in the circulation of non-comic book
  material.

Middle
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What Does the Research Say?

• In a study of "rare words per 1000," D. P. Hayes
  M. G. Ahrens (1988) showed that the oral
  language of college graduates as the low17.3
  rare words per 1000, and the abstracts of
  scientific articles as the high128 rare words
  per 1000 and comic books introduced more new
  words than did adult books (53.5 vs. 52.7).

High
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What Does the Research Say?

• A 1992 study of more than 200,000 students from
  32 countries revealed that Finland, the nation
  with the highest proportion of comic book reading
  students (nearly 60), also had the highest
  literacy rate (99), as well as the highest
  library usage.

Elementary
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What Does the Research Say?

• Stephen Krashen reported (1993) that research
  showed graphic novels are linguistically
  appropriate and bear no negative impact on
  language acquisition, and, in fact, light reading
  (e.g., graphic novels) positively correlated with
  achievement.

Middle
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What Does the Research Say?

• In a 1993 study in the Journal of Child Language,
  researchers concluded that the average comic book
  introduced kids to twice as many words as the
  average childrens book, and five times as many
  words as they were likely to be exposed to in the
  average child-adult conversation.

Middle
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What Does the Research Say?

• M. R. Lavin (1998) suggested that reading graphic
  novels may require more complex cognitive skills
  than the reading of text alone.

High
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What Does the Research Say?

• Sherry Kerr and T. H. Culhane (2000) concluded
  that children who grow up with comic books often
  seem to have a better vocabulary and
  understanding of how to use verb tenses than
  those who, all other things being equal, do not
  read comics.

Middle
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What Does the Research Say?

• M. W. Smith and J. D Wilhelm (2002) reported that
  boys in particular gravitated toward reading
  materials that were highly visual.

Middle
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What Does the Research Say?

• Tabitha Simmons (2003) reported that in a graphic
  novel, readers must not only decode the words and
  the illustrations, but must also identify events
  between the visual sequences.

Elementary
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What Does the Research Say?

• Robyn Hill (2004) concluded that reading comic
  books may help to (among others)
• develop an increased interest in reading
• develop language skills and a rich and varied
  vocabulary
• foster interest in a variety of literary genres

Teachers
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What Do Librarians Say?

• Steve Weiner, a Massachusetts librarian, saw his
  circulation jump 42 the first year he added
  superhero comics to his collection.

Middle/High
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What Do Librarians Say?

• Sharon Richert said her Florida high school
  library Fiction section doubled in circulation
  and in one fifteen day span circulated almost
  1,000 graphic novels.

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What Do Librarians Say?

• Francisca Goldsmith, the Collection Management
  and Promotion Librarian at Berkeley Public
  Library, said, Some reluctant readers will
  gladly pick up a graphic novel over a typical
  novel and since the illustrations support the
  text, graphic novels also help encourage
  literacy.

Middle
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What Do Librarians Say?

• Middle school librarians, Larry Dorrell and Ed
  Carroll, noted at the conclusion of a study in
  Missouri that, Library traffic experienced an
  immediate and lasting change after the
  introduction of comic books into the school
  library.

Middle
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What Do Librarians Say?

• Allyson A. W. Lyga, a Maryland elementary media
  specialist said, Since I started stocking our
  school library with graphic novels six years ago,
  Ive discovered that kids love them. Our
  collection, for students in kindergarten through
  fifth grade, now has around 125 graphic novels,
  and theyre by far our most heavily circulated
  items.

Elementary
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The Appeal of Graphic Novels

• Motivating
• Visual
• Permanent
• Intermediary
• Popular

High
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How Can They Be Used?

• Literary Devices
• Setting
• Plot
• Character development
• Allusion
• Allegory
• Foreshadowing
• Irony
• Satire
• Stereotyping
• Flashback
• Metaphor
• Symbolism
• Imagery

Middle/High
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How Can They Be Used?

• Examine and Compare
• Cultural Knowledge
• social roles and conventions
• power structures
• formal and informal communication styles
• dress
• mannerisms
• values
• stereotypes

Middle
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Curricula Focus

• Cultural Issues
• The Four Immigrants Manga
• Henry (Yoshitaka) Kiyama, 1999

Middle/High
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Curricula Focus

• Cultural Issues
• Still I Rise
• Roland Owen Laird, Taneshia Nash Laird, Elihu
  Bey, 1997

Middle
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Curricula Focus

• Cultural Issues
• 2024
• Ted Rall, 2001

High
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Curricula Focus

• Cultural Issues
• Stuck Rubber Baby
• Howard Cruse, 1995

High
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Curricula Focus

• Math
• The Cartoon Guide to Statistics
• Larry Gonick Wollcutt Smith, 1993

High
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Curricula Focus

• Math
• Prof. E McSquared's Calculus Primer Expanded
  Intergalactic Version
• Howard Swann John Johnson, 2002

High
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Curricula Focus

• Math
• Math Game 1
• Math Game 2
• Math Game 3
• Tori Jung, 2005

Middle
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Curricula Focus

• Science
• The Cartoon Guide to Genetics
• Larry Gonick Mark Wheelies, 1991

Middle/High
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Curricula Focus

• Science
• The Cartoon Guide to Physics
• Larry Gonick Art Huffman, 1991

High
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Curricula Focus

• Science
• The Cartoon Guide to the Environment
• Larry Gonick and Alice Outwater, 1996

Middle/High
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Curricula Focus

• Science
• The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry
• Larry Gonick and Craig Criddle , 2005

High
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Curricula Focus

• Science
• Dignifying Science Stories About Women
• Jim Ottaviani, 2000

Middle/High
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Curricula Focus

• Science
• Clan Apis
• Jay Hosler, 2000

Middle
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Curricula Focus

• Science
• Two-fisted Science Stories About Scientists
• Jim Ottaviani, 2001

Middle/High
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Curricula Focus

• Science
• Fallout
• Jim Ottaviani, 2001

High
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Curricula Focus

• Science
• The Sandwalk Adventures
• Jay Hosler, 2003

Middle/High
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Curricula Focus

• Social Issues
• I Think I Was An Alcoholic
• John Callahan, 1993

High
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Curricula Focus

• Social Issues
• Our Cancer Year
• Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner, Frank Stack, 1994

High
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Curricula Focus

• Social Issues
• The Tale of One Bad Rat
• Brian Talbot, 1995

Middle/High
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Curricula Focus

• Social Issues
• The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Single Mom
• Katherine Arnoldi, 1998

High
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Curricula Focus

• Social Issues
• Pedro and Me Friendship, Loss, and What I
  Learned
• Judd Winick, 2000

High
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Graphic Novels Help Students

• Develop an increased interest in reading
• Increase literacy in the broad sense of the word
• Develop language skills and a rich and varied
  vocabulary
• Foster interest in a variety of literary genres
• Foster interest in a broad range of topics

Elementary
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Graphic Novels Help Students

• Stimulate a creative imagination
• Develop an appreciation of art
• Develop the ability to discuss and critique art
  and writing
• Increase understanding of how meaning is found in
  visual phenomena
• Enhance understanding of popular culture and
  other media

Middle/High
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Questions To AskBefore Purchasing a Graphic
Novel

• Is the book physically well produced and
  attractive?
• Is the storyline coherent, imaginative,
  interesting and well written?
• Is the language accessible and appropriate?

Middle/High
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Questions To AskBefore Purchasing a Graphic
Novel

• Does the cover illustration do justice to the
  material inside?
• Are the words and pictures interdependent?
• Does the book treat race, gender, and social
  class positively?

Middle
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Questions To AskBefore Purchasing a Graphic
Novel

• Is violence part of the nature of the story or is
  it gratuitous?
• Is the text legible or is it obscures by
  illustrative matter, making it difficult to read?

Middle/High
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Questions To AskBefore Purchasing a Graphic
Novel

• Do the illustrations provide a subtle commentary
  on the printed word and move the story forward?
• Are the illustrations of high standard, both
  artistically and technically?

Middle
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Caveat

• Jacquie McTaggart reminds us that it is
  important to understand that comics should
  supplement a balanced literacy program, not
  replace.

Middle
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Additional Resources

• Recommendations for Your Collection
• No Flying, No Tights
• http//www.noflyingnotights.com/
• Graphic Novels Guru
• http//www.graphicnovelguru.com/titles.html
• Comic Books for Young Adults
• http//ublib.buffalo.edu/lml/comics/pages/recommen
  ded.html
• Recommended Graphic Novels for Public Libraries
• http//my.voyager.net/sraiteri/graphicnovels.htm

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Additional Resources

• Professional Journals that
• Review Graphic Novels
• Voice of Youth Advocates
• http//www.voya.com/
• School Library Journal
• http//www.schoollibraryjournal.com/index.asp
• Publishers Weekly
• http//www.publishersweekly.com/
• Library Journal
• http//www.libraryjournal.com/

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Additional Resources

• Reference Books
• The 101 Best Graphic Novels
• Stephen Weiner, 2001
• Getting Graphic! Using Graphic Novels to Promote
  Literacy with Preteens and Teens
• Michelle Gorman, 2003
• Graphic Novels in Your Media Center
• Allyson A. W. Lyga, 2004
• Developing and Promoting Graphic Novels
• Steve Miller, 2005

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Additional Resources

• Other Sites Not to Miss
• What Parents/Teens/Teachers Librarians Want to
  Know About Comics Graphic Novels
• http//www.informationgoddess.ca/ComicsGraphicNov
  els/index.htm
• Graphic Novels in Libraries
• http//www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/graphicno
  vels.asp
• Diamond Bookshelf
• http//bookshelf.diamondcomics.com/
• The Secret Origin of Good Readers A Resource
  Book
• http//www.night-flight.com/secretorigin/SOGR2004.
  pdf

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Graphic Novels in Your Classroom?

• I Hope So!