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GENERAL INTEREST

Gretchen Schwarz

Expanding Literacies through Graphic Novels

Gretchen Schwarz offers a rationale, based on the need for current students to learn multiple literacies, for the use of graphic novels in the high school English class. She highlights several titles, suggests possible classroom strategies, and discusses some of the obstacles teachers may face in adding graphic novels to their curriculum.

he graphic novel now offers English language arts teachers opportunities to engage all students in a medium that expands beyond the traditional borders of literacy. The graphic novel, a longer and more artful version of the comic book bound as a “real” book, is increasingly popular, available, and meaningful. Library media specialists have been in the forefront advocating graphic novels. For example, Maureen Mooney declares, “If you acquire graphic novels, young adults will come.” Mooney adds that graphic novels appeal Educators have also urged to various readers, offer all the use of comics as an kinds of genres, help students develop critical thinking, and alternative, appealing way encourage literacy (18). Literfor students to analyze ary critics are also taking note. literary conventions, Lev Grossman observes, “Yet character development, some of the most interesting, dialogue, satire, and most daring, most heartbreaklanguage structures as ing art being created right now, of both the verbal and well as develop writing visual varieties, is being puband research skills. lished in graphic novels. These books take on memory, alienation, film noir, child abuse, life in post-revolutionary Iran and, of course,
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English Journal Vol. 95, No. 6 July 2006

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Time has arrived to broaden the canons of traditional education and the curriculum. . . . Using critical pedagogy to integrate the new forms of visual and electronic “texts” represents a curriculum requiring new competencies and a new definition of what constitutes learning as well