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Across Ages is a mentoring initiative designed to increase the resiliency and protective factors of at-risk middle school youths through a comprehensive intergenerational approach. The overall goal is substance use prevention.
Graphic Novels are Everywhere!No longer an underground movement appealing to a small following of enthusiasts, graphic novels have emerged as a growing segment of book publishing, and have become accepted by librarians and educators as mainstream literature for children and young adults — literature that powerfully motivates kids to read. Are graphic novels for you? Should you be taking a more serious look at this format? How might graphic novels fit into your library collection, your curriculum, and your classroom? Want to know more? If so, this guide is for you.
What are Graphic Novels?In this context, the word “graphic” does not mean “adult” or “explicit.” Graphic novels are books written and illustrated in the style of a comic book. To be considered a graphic novel, rather than a picture book or illustrated novel, the story is told using a combination of words and pictures in a sequence across the page.
Graphic novels can be any genre, and tell any kind of story, just like their prose counterparts. The format is what makes the story a graphic novel, and usually includes text, images, word balloons, sound effects, and panels.This basic way of storytelling has been used in various forms for centuries—early cave drawings, hieroglyphics, and medieval tapestries like the famous Bayeux Tapestry can be thought of as stories told in pictures.The term “graphic novel” is generally used to describe any book in a comic format that resembles a novel in length and narrative development.
Graphic novels are a subgenre of “comics,” which is a word you may also hear people use when referring to this style of book. Are Graphic Novels Suitable for the Young, and How Do I Evaluate Them?Some parents, educators, and librarians may associate the term “graphic novel” with content that is not suitable for young readers. Today there is a wide range of titles and, though not all graphic novels are intended for children, there are more titles published expressly for kids coming out every month.Reviews and round-ups of new graphic novels appear regularly in School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, Voice of Youth Advocates, Library Media Connection, Publishers Weekly, and other journals. By reading these reviews, seeking the advice of trusted colleagues and vendors, and previewing materials prior to circulation, you can build a collection that is suited to your audience.
How Do Graphic Novels Promote Literacy? MotivationGraphic novels powerfully attract and motivate kids to read. Many librarians have built up graphic novel collections and have seen circulation figures soar.
School librarians and educators have reported outstanding success getting kids to read with graphic novels, citing particularly their popularity with reluctant readers, especially boys—a group traditionally difficult to reach. At the same time, graphic novels with rich, complex plots and narrative structures can also be satisfying to advanced readers. In fact, graphic novels are flexible enough that often the same titles can be equally appealing to both reluctant and advanced readers. Providing young people of all abilities with diverse reading materials, including graphic novels, can help them become lifelong readers. Reluctant ReadersGraphic novels can be a way in for students who are difficult to reach through traditional texts. Even those deemed poor readers willingly and enthusiastically gravitate toward these books. Readers who are not interested in reading or who, despite being capable of reading, prefer gaming or watching media, can be pulled into a story by the visual elements of graphic novels.
Benefits to Struggling Readers, Special-needs Students, and English-language LearnersGraphic novels can dramatically help improve reading development for students struggling with language acquisition, including special-needs students, as the illustrations provide contextual clues to the meaning of the written narrative. They can provide autistic students with clues to emotional context that they might miss when reading traditional text. English-language learners will be more motivated by graphic novels, and will more readily acquire new vocabulary and increase English proficiency.
But are Graphic Novels 'Real Books'? Are They 'Literature'?
Do They Count as 'Reading'? Overcoming PrejudicesSome parents and educators may feel that graphic novels are not the “type of reading material” that will help young people grow as readers.
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