The Graphic Novels Guy

Gene Yang, Graphic Novels and NCTE
Graphic novels are finding a place in the NYC classroom and, SPLAT 2008.

Imagine my surprise as I discovered some brilliant graphic novel programming when I attended the National Council of Teachers of English convention at the Javit's in NYC this past November. 

Now wait, that may have not come out sounding the way it should have.  I should start out by mentioning that I discovered James Bucky Carter's name listed on the programming and figured it would be pretty cool to find out what he was going to talk about in the way of graphic novels for the classroom.   Carter has a great book called Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels: Page by Page, Panel by Panel and delivers a really great workshop.

Among hundreds of programs you would have also found Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón the two creators of The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation.  These two men have been creating comics together for over four decades and to hear their perspective on the state of the industry and what inspired them to recreate the 9/11 Commission Report as a graphic novel, is worth every minute. 

These weren't programs where graphic novels were mentioned as an afterthought, graphic novels were discussed in matter-of-fact terms as books to be used for reading.   The presenters know and appreciate the fact that graphic novels can be used to educate and entertain readers of all skills.  And these people really really know the stuff!  I had anticipated finding people who were excited about the format and maybe had just begun to explore using graphic novels in the classroom.  I was really underestimating the market. 

Even more encouraging was the number of people sitting in on the sessions.  Each room was packed or nearly full.  The teachers were in their zone and the audience was completely engaged.  This is fertile ground for a revolution.   Maybe there is more to teaching kids the art of enjoying reading.  It was great to see these teachers using graphic novels to reach out and connect with readers of all skill levels.

The attendance for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) convention in New York was only 8,000 teachers.  Only 8,000 teachers?  How many students does that represent and, from how many parts of the country?  If you thought teachers dont care about reaching students, you need to sit in on one of these sessions at NCTE.  It will definitely change the way you look at teachers.  We make it difficult for them to do their jobs every year with tax cuts and budget 'restrictions' and yet they come back year after year.   

Across the country, in the San Francisco area is a teacher and an author who figured out that teaching with graphic novels can help you instantly connect with your students.  Gene Luen Yang has been writing comics and graphic novels around his family time and teaching duties and wound up creating American Born Chinese which went on to win the Printz award and was also the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award. 

Yes, I have mentioned Gene here before and you may start to recognize a pattern here.  There are graphic novel creators like Gene who will continue to resurface on a regular basis as this format continues to grow.  The latest appearance for Gene, in my world, arrived with the NCTE magazine.  In the newest issue, Gene was given the chance to write an article for NCTE in a graphic novel format.  It was so cool to see how he discovered the benefits of using graphic novels as a tool for connecting with students in the classroom.  This was in the magazine for the National Council of Teachers of English.  IF they can see the benefits of using graphic novels, much as Gene does, it wont be long for the word to spread.

That brings me to the New York City Department of Education who recently contacted my counterpart, Janna Morishima and me to discuss creating a graphic novel symposium for the librarians who serve the schools in the five New York City boroughs.  These people understand that graphic novels are something that need to be included in the educational programming. And, much like librarians a few years ago, they want to learn how to bring them into the school system.   The program is for some 800-900 public and private school librarians.  As one of the people in our meeting put it "We need to teach kids with new tools.  Why would anyone try to teach 21st century students with 19th century methods? We need to use the things these kids understand."

Truer words were never spoken.  Kids are moving at light speed and teachers are doing everything they can to keep up.  Every day there are more and more great graphic novel titles getting published.  Talking with the folks from the NYC Department of Education about using graphic novels reminded me of something my junior high school music teacher said when we asked him why he was playing The Who for us in class.  He said "There is some amazing structure in this music. One of these days you will talk about Pete Townshend the way my teacher spoke about Mozart."  He knew exactly how to reach us.

So the revolution continues to spread and in the most natural of places-the class room and the library.

Hey, I would be remiss in my duties if I didnt tell you about another graphic novel moment in New York City.  The Center for Independent Publishing will be hosting its first major graphic novel symposium on March 15th.  SPLAT 2008 will feature some great creators and a guy who knows a lot about the art of graphic novels, Scott McCloud.  There will also be some great folks from the educational world, Karen Green from Columbia University, Peter Guitierrez, a curriculum development consultant, Margaux Del Guidice and Michael Lizardi, School Media Specialists, and Christian Zabriskie, Senior Librarian YA Services from Queens Public Library .  It's a great day of programs and you will learn some pretty cool stuff.   Click here for more....http://www.nycip.org/graphicnovelsymposium/panel.php

Viva La Revolución!

Next time on The Graphic Novels Guy: Remainders, Graphic Novels and The Spring Book Show

John Shableski works for Diamond Book Distributors as a sales manager with a focus on the independent bookstore market, public and school libraries. He's been a panelist at BEA, a moderator for graphic novel panels at the New York Comic Con, a guest speaker at library events, regional book shows and a symposium coordinator. He's currently collaborating on several graphic novel symposiums across the country. For general questions you can send an email to [email protected]

Comments

[Jean]

The 9/11 Commission Report in graphic novel format? Now you have my attention. What a great idea!

[Kat Kan]

The 9/11 Report has been around for a few years now. I even gave copies to family members a couple of Christmases ago.

I just read an article in a St. Paul, MN newspaper about a middle school that teaches a Graphic Novel course as an elective. You may not believe the nasty vitriol poured out in the comments from people who, probably without having read a single graphic novel ever, declare that schools are "dumbing down" and catering to illiterate children and on and on. Mostly in ungrammatical prose as well. Sheesh. It's as though every negative commenter totally ignored the panel (the article was in comic book format) that stated every student in the graphic novel course was also taking a traditional English course.

So, librarians and teachers are embracing the format, but there are plenty of people "out there" who don't get it, don't want to get it, and criticize teachers and schools who are really trying to reach out to their students.

[howard zimmerman]

I taught third grade in north Harlem from 1968 to 1976. I used comics to help kids enjoy the task of learning to read. They were Marvel and DC superhero comics, but they could have been Little Lotta, Donald Duck, or Magnus, Robot Fighter. The kids got it in a heartbeat. The pictures add clues to help decipher the text; the text and art complement each other to tell a complete story.

Later, I helped create and edited Comics Scene magazine, the first nationally distributed mag about all aspects of graphic storytelling. Still later, I edited licensed graphic adaptations of the works of Douglas Adams, Roger Zelazny, and Ray Bradbury.

Today, I continue to produce graphic novels through my own company.

Throughout the years, I have always said that comics are a perfect place for kids to start reading. But there is a new "ghettoization" going on in the field today.

Now that print publishers have figured out how to make a profit from "funny books" (as they used to be called), they are looking for an air of legitimacy to separate their product from the masses.

Graphic novels now must have a pedigree to be taken seriously as "learning tools" or "good reads" for kids. They must be either nonfiction, soul-searching biographies or adaptations of great and important works. Otherwise, they do not end up in schools and libraries.

Ugh.

Where's the fun gone?

My first books as a kid were comics. My mother's concern was that i read the words as well as look at the pictures. As long as I could read the comics, she was happy.

As long as a comic or graphic novel is age-appropriate, I don't actually care what its content is, because I suspect that kids will READ it as well as look at the pictures.

With monthly comics' average cover price hovering at the $3 mark, they are still much cheaper than graphic novels. And there are so many good ones out now, from indies and small houses as well as mid-sized publishers.

We have to turn the discussion around, so that monthly comics are not once again seen to be the publishing industry's ghetto or dustbin. They have always been the core of the business, and if you go into a comics shop (vanishing breed that they are), you will find hundreds of titles you never heard of before that are simply wonderful, and affordable.

Let's make an effort to keep the monthlies alive and accessible to all readers.

Howard Zimmerman