Graphic Novels Are Real Reading!

This collection of resources is designed to emphasize the importance of embracing graphic novels as an important part of students’ choice reading, and as part of classroom instruction. At a time when some teachers and parents are hesitant to encourage, or even allow, students to read graphic novels, these resources demonstrate that graphic novels are legitimate forms of literature that can increase comprehension, improve vocabulary, and engage students of all levels in learning and discussion, both in the literacy classroom and throughout content learning. While more traditional comics are also discussed in these resources, the focus is on book-length graphic novels. This collection is divided into three parts based on the main idea of the resource, though there is overlap among the resources: - The Rationale: Resources that explain the power of using graphic novels in the classroom, both for choice reading and in classroom instruction. These resources focus on the research behind using graphica in the classroom, and how visual literacy augments readers’ understanding of texts. - Teacher Resources: This part of the collection contains lesson plans, as well as background knowledge and comic-specific vocabulary that teachers need to know in order to use graphic novels effectively in the classroom. - Book Reviews & Authors: These resources are primarily focused on book lists, book reviews, and authors to watch in the field of graphic novels. Many of the lists are broken down into grade bands, making it easy to start a graphic novel collection for the classroom, to find books to recommend to individual students, or to choose books to use with the entire classroom.