From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2004 06:02:40 -0400

I'm delighted with this month's topic as I've long been interested in graphic novels. My own childhood was filled with comics and I still have a beloved set of Supermans hidden away. Perhaps because of that I've included comics in my fourth grade library for ages. The various Life in Hell collections by Matt Groening are very popular (esp. Childhood is Hell and School is Hell) --- they star Binky, a sort of one?red rabbit who predates Bart Simpson. Another older favorite of mine is Lynda Barry who does a wonderful comic that has been periodically compiled into books. I like the ones starring Marlys as she is close to the age of my fourth graders, but there are also works featuring her older sister Maybonne and brother Freddy. Years ago I saw the most wonderful play based on her novel, The Good Times are Killing Me. This YA novel is not a comic, but has wonderful paintings at the end. I know she has done other works also probably more YA in nature, but the small earlier compilations are great for upper elementary.

In my classroom I always have books that kids return to again and again. Books they can dip into, sometimes picture books or sometimes other books with images. Probably the ones with the greatest staying power of the last few years are the Little Lit books (edited by Art Spiegelman) of which there are now three. I currently have a group that plays Fairy Tale Road Rage (from the first book, I believe) every day. What intrigues me is that these books (graphic novels?) seem to be the perfect in between books for them. In between picture books and novels, that is. And given their massive experiences with images in film, television, video games, and so on it seems intriguing to perhaps further explore this melding of text and images in a way distinct from other books.

Another pair that they have adored are the Little Vampire books (by Joann Sfar and originally published in France). I first became aware of these through a postive New York Times review and immediately bought them for my class. I was later intrigued to read Peter Sieruta's take on them in his article, "The Other Stuff" in the March/April 2004 Horn Book in which he wrote: "These hardcover editions of inferior comic books are my choice for the worst new series of 2003. Someone drive a stake through it." (pg. 208) I feel completely the opposite and hope there will be more!

Watching the way my fourth graders gravitate to these books over and over, I've been looking for more "like those." I do have Avi's graphic novel and Stamaty's Too Many Time Machines, but the kids aren't terribly interested in those as they are the Little Lit and Little Vampire books. I posted a query on childlit and got some great responses (along with the link Megan mentioned) and someone else pointed me to a recent Knowledge Quest article on graphic novels for elementary kids. My big problem, however, is that I need to SEE the books and they are hard to track down. Reading about them isn't enough for me to determine if they are the right thing for my students. I really need to look through them myself. My local children's book store does not seem to carry any and the stores that do seem to have mostly R rated works. I'd love to see children's bookstores and children's sections of the chains have shelves devoted to graphic novels for elementary kids. I bet they'd do good business!

Sorry for the length, but this is something at the top of my interest burner right now!

Best, Monica

Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Thu 08 Apr 2004 05:02:40 AM CDT