Secondary language arts teacher Maureen Bakis shows how to engage adolescents by using graphic novels to teach 21st-century skills, improve reading comprehension, and promote literacy learning.

Harness the power of graphic novels to promote literacy and engage all secondary students with Teaching Graphic Novels by Katie Monnin! Address print-text and image literacies, from navigating text features to creating standards-based lessons on reading comprehension, fiction/nonfiction, written response, critical thinking, and media literacy. Complete with examples from graphic novels, professional resource suggestions, strategies that can be used with any graphic novel, cross-indexes of middle and high school graphic novels and themes, reproducibles, and extra support for English-language learners. Teaching Graphic Novels was a finalist for both the 2009 ForeWord Education Book of the Year and the 2010 AEP Distinguished Achievement Award in the 6-8 Curriculum and Instruction category!

Graphic novels are now appearing in a great variety of courses: composition, literature, drama, popular culture, travel, art, translation. The thirty-four essays in this volume explore issues that the new art form has posed for teachers at the university level. Among the subjects addressed are•terminology (graphic narrative vs. sequential art, comics vs. comix)•the three outstanding comics-producing cultures today: the American, the Japanese (manga), and the Franco-Belgian (the bande dessinée)•the differences between the techniques of graphic narrative and prose narrative,and between the reading patterns for each•the connections between the graphic novel and film•the lives of the new genre's practitioners (e.g., Robert Crumb, Harvey Pekar)•women's contributions to the field (e.g., Lynda Barry)•how the graphic novel has been used to probe difficult moments in history (the Holocaust, 9/11), deal with social and racial injustice, and voice political satire•postmodernism in the graphic novel (e.g., in the work of Chris Ware)•how the American superhero developed in the Depression and World War II•comix and the 1960s counterculture•the challenges of teaching graphic novels that contain violence and sexual contentThe volume concludes with a selected bibliography of the graphic novel and sequential art.

Teaching Graphic Novels in the Classroom describes different methods teachers may use to begin teaching graphic literature to new readers. The first chapter of the book is dedicated to the history of the medium and runs from the earliest days of comic books through the growing popularity of graphic novels. It includes profiles of early creators and the significance of certain moments throughout the history that chart the evolution of graphic literature from superheroes to award-winning novels like Maus. Chapters 2-8 focus on different genres and include an analysis and lessons for 1-2 different novels, creator profiles, assignments, ways to incorporate different media in connection with each book, chapter summaries, discussion questions, and essay topics. Chapter 9 is the culminating project for the book, allowing students to create their own graphic novel, with guidance from the writing process to creating the art. Grades 7-12

Sequential art combines the visual and the narrative in a way that readers have to interpret the images with the writing. Comics make a good fit with education because students are using a format that provides active engagement. This collection of essays is a wide-ranging look at current practices using comics and graphic novels in educational settings, from elementary schools through college. The contributors cover history, gender, the use of specific graphic novels, practical application and educational theory. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Quiet, sensitive Faith starts middle school already worrying about how she will fit in. To her surprise, Amanda, a popular eighth grader, convinces her to join the school soccer team, the Bloodhounds. Having never played soccer in her life, Faith ends up on the C team, a ragtag group that’s way better at drama than at teamwork. Although they are awful at soccer, Faith and her teammates soon form a bond both on and off the soccer field that challenges their notions of loyalty, identity, friendship, and unity. The Breakaways from Cathy G. Johnson is a raw, and beautifully honest graphic novel that looks into the lives of a diverse and defiantly independent group of kids learning to make room for themselves in the world.

Since todays young readers live in a highly visual world, its no surprise that graphic novels are growing in popularity. With this book, teachers can lead students in literary analysis of this unique genre, introduce them to good quality graphic novels, and encourage them to write and illustrate a graphic short story. Each lesson in the book is based on standards.