GRAPHIC NOVELS ARE REAL BOOKS!!

One thing that I absolutely cannot stand in the education world is teachers that tell kids that comics and graphic novels are not "real" books...that they aren't worth reading. As a seventh grade teacher, I constantly have my 12 year old students telling me that their past teachers said graphic novels didn't count or that they weren't quality books. What a terrible thing to say that keeps kids away from some of the most amazing literature out there!


My experience with the world of graphic novels has grown and expanded a lot as a reader.

When I was in high school, I had a friend who introduced me to the world of manga. I started reading everything that she would lend to me! Some of my favorites were Necromancer by Shina Soga, Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi, and Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya. I devoured it all and fell in love with such an amazing visual genre.

Up until that point manga was my only experience with the graphic novel genre and I really never realized how amazing it really is and didn't know where to look for more great literature. Until I took an amazing class in college from Dr. Joseph Darowski and it impacted me so much! (By the way, if you love listening to people discussing literature, check out Dr. Darowski's The Protagonist Podcast where every week they talk about great protagonists in books, comics, and even movies--it's awesome!)

We spent the entire semester reading and studying Maus by Art Spiegelman. This graphic novel is so impactful and AMAZING! I felt so much depth from it that all of those doubtful educators don't think can be found in graphic novels. This book is what showed me what the genre can really be! And Dr. Darowski did such an amazing job of teaching us the history of comics and the graphic novel genre. I learned so much background knowledge that really just increases my appreciation for all those amazing authors and illustrators who contribute to literature with their talents. He had such passion for comics and graphic novels that it was extremely contagious to the entire class!

Now that I'm a teacher, I almost always hear about amazing graphic novels from my students. This is how I found out about amazing graphic novels like The Amulet series, The Agony House by Cherie Priest, Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol, El Deafo by Cece Bell among so many others! I love sharing these with my kids and seeing what they love!

My most recent read this week was Nimona by Noelle Stevenson. I've heard about this graphic novel ever since it came out. It's been recommended to me by so many friends and students and I've just never gotten around to it. Finally I was able to get my hands on a copy and I devoured it in between classes today. It was so good! I loved the creativity of it, the artistry, EVERYTHING and I can't wait to recommend it to all of my students this year who love graphic novels as much as I do!

Seeing all of the excitement, joy, and love of reading that my students receive from reading graphic novels and comics just makes me want to encourage them and offer them more and more opportunities to read. I hope that more and more teachers will realize the benefits of encouraging kids to read the types of books that they want to read instead of what they consider to be "real" literature!