Use of comics and gn in the lib and class

Use of Comics and Graphic Novels in the Library and Classroom
Chi Anne McGrew
Missouri Association of School Librarians
Spring Conference 2010
You can email me for the exact powerpoint
chiannemcgrew@charter.net
Or most of the information and links can be found at
http://mrsmcgrew.blogspot.com

Used to describe the specific format of a comic book that has greater production values and longer narrative
Can also describe the trade paperback format, like a serialized novel.

Comic book definition-
Used to describe both the medium itself and the periodical form.
As a result, all graphic novels are comic books, but not all comic books are graphic novels.

Sequential Art
Combination of text, panels and images
Gutter
Panel
http://progressiveboink.com/archive/calvinhobbes.htm

http://www.flightcomics.com/flight3preview/preview_final/web_khangle/index.html

Khang Le
http://www.flightcomics.com/flight2preview/pages/06_081_khang_page03.jpg

Graphic novels are the fastest growing categories in book publishing and partly because of this growth there is a a lot of uncertainty about what a graphic novel is.
Traditionally a series of bound comics in long book form- started in the UK in 1870s.

Washington Post article by Steven Hunter (2002) explains how the “graphic novel isn’t really a novel; what it is, really, is a movie in graphics. It tells stories visually, finding images to express emotions that would somehow be beyond a prose artist’s ability to convey”

Will Eisner coined the phrase graphic novel in 1978 to describe his collection of illustrated short stories, A contract with God and other tenement stories (Kitchen Sink, 1978)

Published 1978, filled with pictures, was meant as literature, not a comic.

Three subcategories of graphic novels
Superhero comics
Popular entertainment
Literary fine art

http://swclinux.lakeheadschools.ca/news/wp-content/superheroes02.jpg

“I see no intrinsic reason why a doubly talented artist might not arise and create a comic strip novel masterpiece.” -author John Updike (1969)

Only graphic novel to appear on Time magazines list of the “100 best novels from 1923 to the present”

Set during the Cold War, with Bruce Wayne who is nearly 55 and has retired from being Batman, is drawn back into the life of a superhero.

Marjane Satrapi explains her inspiration from Maus and the freedom of a graphic novel. “It’s just you telling your story.” Hers is not a story of victimization, but of anger and a direction for the anger. Plus, it reaches a population that otherwise would have no idea about the Revolution in Iran.

http://tenthousandvisions.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/persepolis_cover.jpg
http://www.rand.org/international_programs/cmepp/imey/images/persepolis-page.gif

Pulitzer Prize Special Award winner in 1992
http://www.buckslib.org/images/Programs/onebook/Maus%20Poster.GIF

Popular Entertainment
Basically a catch-all group for works that don’t fall into the other two categories
Fastest growing subcategory
A lot is published by the numerous small presses.

Comics bridge to graphic novels
(Lyga & Lyga,2004)
To traditional library materials (Miller, 2005)
http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/reading-comic-books-300x225.jpg

BIG MOVIES AND TV SHOWS COME FROM COMICS AND GN
Spider Man
X-Men
Hulk
Justice League
Smallville
Teen Titans
300
Road to Perdition
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

“due to their visual nature, graphic novels provide a more visceral, immediate experience.”

High Interest and Pop Culture
Graphic novels will gain attention better than a textbook
Graphic novels cling to the cutting edge of pop culture which kids also glean to. Often in advance of media.
Comics responded to 9/11 in less than 1 month, much faster than any other media

Prinz Award
http://scholarization.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/animetv-naruto.jpg
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WHY GRAPHIC NOVELS?
Give students what they want
They read them
Graphic novels have a higher level of vocabulary
Reluctant reader’s will read them
Graphic Novels circulate at least as much as other books
Practical matters
No rule to how many are needed

Multiple Intelligences
Howard Gardner

Enjoy writing, reading, telling stories or doing crossword puzzles. Good with words and possess incredible vocabularies or make up their own words and meanings.
Linguistic Intelligence
Graphic Novel Connection-
Enjoy recreationally. Creative outlet to create own. Imaginations are fueled. Challenges because text doesn’t do across the page format.

Spatial Intelligence
Visual learners, think in images and pictures. Fascinated by visual games, doodles, draw for teacher, art classes.
Graphic Novel Connection-
enjoy reading and stimulate creativity

Interpersonal Intelligence
Stand out among their peers, good at communicating understanding others feelings and motives, model leaders, well-liked, easily navigate through social situations.
Graphic Novel Connection- Much of storytelling in a graphic novel is done through visual facial expressions, settings, sharp lines, and shadings.

Traits of Readers and the Graphic Novels Connection
1. Students incapable of visualization
students are surrounded by visual images, but not all make those pictures while reading which is necessary to being successful. Graphic novels help with visualizations because there may be entire pictures without text so they must decode meaning. “They can focus mental energy on gaining meaning from pictures rather than be frustrated by text that challenges their inability to create mental pictures of the story.” It’s not dumbing down, it requires more complex thought.

2. Reluctant Readers-
Capable of visualization but won’t read. Unmotivated students are sometimes also unskilled, probably lacks skills necessary to construct meaning. If all the energy is spent pronouncing the words, comprehension is lost. Generally boys.
Graphic novels aid in decoding. Pictures are the key for reading success. Students don’t consider graphic novels to be real books because of the pictures so they don’t mind reading them.

3.Visually dependent students-
Media rich environments make it difficult for students to keep the attention span.
Graphic Novels- adapt, don’t compete, use to teach visual literacy—looking at the messages, meanings and motivations behind a visual images.

Graphic Novels in schools: promoting reading and improving literacy
“Including graphic novels in the library’s collection boosted circulation and drew reluctant readers, especially boys.”
Kay Hones, O’Connell High School, San Francisco

“Graphic novels can be a valuable tool for aiding language and literacy development of students. They are especially valuable to students who are struggling with language acquisition because the illustrations help provide contextual clues for understanding the narrative aspects of the text.”
Elaine Moskowitz, San Francisco Unified School District

“Research shows comic books as linguistically appropriate reading material, bearing no negative effect on language acquisition or school achievement.”

Comic books and graphic novels are perfect for reluctant readers and young readers to utilize visual literacy skills.
Owly: A time to be brave
Andy Runton
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog/previews/owly_vol4/owly_vol4_05.jpg

Comics and Graphic Novels
Not just for those that need visual cueing: reluctant readers or ELL students
Visual literacy beneficial to all students
Interpret pictorial cues
Allows reader to become a part of the story
Students excited by the visual stimulation of the artwork

“Graphic novels are beneficial for young people who read English as a second language or for those who read on a lower reading level than their peers because the simple sentences, visual or context clues, and educated guessing allow them to comprehend some, if not all, of the story”

“It is possible for a novice comic book reader to understand 60% to 70% of the story in a comic book just by looking at the pictures, thereby providing less proficient readers with a successful “reading” experience.”

“Perhaps the most powerful way of encouraging children to read is by exposing them to it. Reading, a kind of reading that schools pretend does not exist and a kind of reading that many children, for economic or ideological reasons, are deprived of. I suspect that light reading is the way that nearly all of us learned to read.
-Quoted from Stephen Krashen in The power of fiction (Libraries Unlimited, 1993)

In order for students to read better they have to have time for voluntary reading and choosing their own material.
Students must be able to choose materials in which they have a strong interest, including magazines, comic books, and graphic novels which are often frowned upon administrators, librarians and teachers.

In a study done 20 years ago which found that the presence of comic books in a library increased circulation of non-comic materials by 30%, school libraries have limited comic-style books.

Get Teachers on board
Go to team department meetings with noted examples
Throw a graphic novel/ comic book party
Ask principal for a few minutes at a faculty meeting for book talk
Email a particular teacher with a book they could use
Direct approach- checkout a book in a teachers name and note- thought this would work for you!
Get reading club for teachers and students
Faculty survey

Specific Uses for Graphic Novels in the Classroom
Social Studies-
The Cartoon History of the World, Volume II
Civil War Series- adults love as well
Maus- for WWII
Persopolis- 1980s
English-
most books fall into this category
Macbeth
Instruction on standard literary devices- irony,
Foreshadowing, point of view, etc.
Elementary- do a ‘picture walk’
Art teacher uses for curricular connections
Science
Fallout, about the atom bomb
Graphic novels are great for ELL- vocabularies develop as they use the graphics to make sense of the text.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VJEoP6POm2M/SLgE5-Z0GsI/AAAAAAAABho/uprjrybp8Fs/s320/Cover-small.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VJEoP6POm2M/SV-ntxTtuMI/AAAAAAAACac/4ZXHzt7x5js/s320/US+Constitution.jpg

Use in the K12 School
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“Graphic novel readers have learned to understand not only print, but can also decode facial and body expressions, the symbolic metaphors and similes and other social and literary nuances teenagers are mastering as they move from childhood to maturity.”
St. Lifer, 2002, p.9

Lesson Plans
Cartoons and comics in the classroom: A reference for teachers and librarians edited by James L. Thomas
For Castle waiting: The lucky road by Linda Medley, Allyson Lyga developed lesson plans on the Diamond Comics web site.
New York City Comic Book Museum launched “Hooked on Comics” or the C.O.M.I.C.S. Curriculum based on the Fantastic Four from Marvel Comics
Cross Generation Comics developed comprehensive reading programs around two of their popular titles, Meridian by Barbra Kesel for middle schoolers and Ruse by Mark Waid and Butch Guise for high school readers.

“Be prepared to show how the content of your graphic novels section is equal to the content of your prose books.”Example prose = John shot BillGraphic novel = picture of John shooting Bill, Bill collapsing in pain, face in anguish

REACTIONS
Surprisingly little resistance despite general negativity to comic books
To prevent problems discuss with administration and reading supervisors prior to building collections
STUDENT REACTIONS
Boys run to the books
had to limit to 2 at a time so collection wasn’t wiped out
falling apart after 5 months because of use
students read to the end
follow plot lines, have character, summaries
reading teachers like
less intimidating for reluctant or struggling readers
Students like
Teachers like

http://www.cuyahogalibrary.org/uploadedImages/Image_Library/Reading/teensReading(1).jpg
10:1
Graphic Novels : Young Adult Fiction

Selection Tools and Resources
Professional and Trade Journals
The Comics Journal
Founded in 1975
One of the nations most respected single-arts magazines, providing its readers with an eclectic mix of industry news, professional interviews, and reviews of current work on a monthly basis.
Published by Fantagraphics

Selection Tools and Resources
Professional and Trade Journals
Knowledge Quest
Column on graphic novels by Phillip Crawford, Thought Bubbles, published by American Association of School Libraries

Professional Trade Journals
Library Journal
The Shy Librarian
Steven Weiner’s column, The Comics’ Librarian reviews graphic novels and discusses trends in the industry.
Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
Kat Kan’s article “Graphically Speaking” WIZARD magazine
People magazine of the comic book world covers new products in the world of comics, tv animation, and related issues
Booklist
School Library Journal
Publisher’s Weekly

Local Comic Book Store

Industry Awards
Harvey Awards
Harvey Kurtzman
Founder of MAD magazine
Voted on by those working in the industry

Eisner Awards
Will Eisner
Designed to recognize “the outstanding work of the creative people from within our industry” and to “attract public attention to the art form by publicizing to non-comics readers the best work in the industry has to offer.”
Eisner nominations are selected by a panel of 5 judges, with 5,000 voting ballots being distributed to publishers, creators, and retailers.

Industry Sites
http://www.tcj.com/
Diamond’s Bookshelf
http://bookshelf.diamondcomics.com/public/
WIZARD Magazine
http://www.wizarduniverse.com/index.cfm

Graphic Novel Review Sites
Comic Books for Young Adults: A Guide for Librarians
http://library.buffalo.edu/asl/guides/comics.html
Librarian’s Guide to Anime and Manga
http://www.koyagi.com/Libguide.html
Links to Comics and Graphic Novel Sites
http://my.voyager.net/~sraiteri/comicslinks.htm
No Flying, No Tights: A Website Reviewing Graphic Novels for Teens
http://www.noflyingnotights.com/

http://graphicclassroom.blogspot.com/
Author
Illustrator
Publisher, ISBN, Pages
Story Sybopsis
Review
Age Recommendation
Things to be aware
Use in the Classroom
Preview of Free Comics

Developing a comic book and graphic novel collection will allow the school library media specialist to harness the popularity of these works to promote reading for academic and recreational purposes.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3655/3346032718_6814dc4ef2.jpg

Collection Development
Adding to the Library
Library Mission Statement
Collection development policy
Ask students
Review Lists
Comic store employees
Pilot collection

Collection Development
4 factors to consider
story
art
age appropriateness- most popular in middle school
appeal

CATALOGING
741.5 under Dewey number makes them easy to find though not all fall into this category
modified 741.5- allows for central location but singles them out from Dewey classification. Some come as 741.5 but can add Graphic Novel
separate section- allows for expansion, separate category allows one to track circulation, also allows for highlighting them.
Fiction- not Graphic Novel fit in fiction section, plus harder for students to find.

Researched Recommendations
All together in a separate section
Divide by fiction and non-fiction
Use stickers to designate GN
Use subject heading in catalog record of Comic/GN

Use in the classroom
Motivation to read
Story board
Study of character development
Encourage writing
Literary elements

Resources

30- graphic novels good in some way for promoting reading
“Graphic novels are just fiction or non-fiction books with a different format. Fiction graphic novels still have a storyline with story elements. Non-fiction graphic novels still provide accurate information about the subject.”

5- help provide a variety of reading material
“It is a format that engages kids and encourages them to read. We know this because the few that we have are always checked out and they are being read, not just looked at.”

Many respondents recognized the potential for graphic novels to aid reluctant readers.
“If the format of a graphic novel is the hook it takes to bring a student and a book together, so be it. The format should not determine a book’s literary value.”

Chi Anne McGrew
Shawnee R-3
chiannemcgrew@charter.net
http://mrsmcgrew.blogspot.com
Contact Information:

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Use of comics and gn in the lib and class

by Anne McGrew on Apr 28, 2010

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Use of comics and gn in the lib and class — Presentation Transcript