The Graphic Cannon

Confession time……I hate graphic novels!  My own children were the first to introduce me to the graphic novel concept when they brought home the Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.  I will admit that I was as bit of a snob about these particular book selections and at first I wondered what my kids were really getting out of these books.  They likened the books to the Calvin and Hobbes comic books I had previously encouraged them to read (I wanted my children to be exposed to Calvin’s imagination and vocabulary) and so I relented and let them carry on with their graphic novels.  I figured it was more important that they were #1 reading and #2 enjoying what they were reading.  So, as I looked at the Graphic Canon selections, I tried to keep an open mind.

                One of the first things I noticed is that every piece has an introduction that gives some background information about the author, the original text, and the artist that created the graphics for the text.  This provides students with some background knowledge of the text, which can increase their comprehension.  Each graphic novel consists of a pictorial description with parts of the text included within the picture.  I felt that some pieces were more successful than others at portraying the stories.  I really had a difficult time reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.  It was really difficult to read the text incorporated into the pictures, but I felt that the pictures conveyed the message of the text.  I really loved the graphic novel version of The Great Gatsby because the pictures really captured the tone of the novel and the essence of the 1920s. 

                I could see utilizing graphic novels in my classroom because students seem to enjoy the format and I want them to be engaged readers.  I also think graphic novels would be beneficial for ELL students and resistive readers because the format can help them build comprehension.  Graphic novels could also help students build comprehension with difficult texts.  I’m still not a huge fan of graphic novels, but I see the benefits to incorporating them into my curriculum.