Wednesday, April 7, 2021

First Quarter Check In: Graphic Novels

It's no secret that graphic novels aren't my genre of choice. However, this year I made a short list of some reading goals I wanted to work on. One of them is increasing the number of graphic novels I read. My plan is to read one graphic novel each month. Of course, if I want to read more than that, I can, but reading one a month is a lot more than I was reading before, and by the end of the year, I'll have a dozen graphic novels I can recommend to my students (which is an unlikely scenario since they are all about graphic novels and recommend them to me instead of the other way around).

 


Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang is a thick chunkster of a book.  I love reading about basketball and this graphic format instantly had my attention.  I loved how Gene wove in his own story with the story of the high school basketball team where he teaches. Gene was not an athlete himself and wasn't even interested in basketball, but he gets caught up with the success of the high school team and finds that it more exciting than he can imagine.  

Dancing at the Pity Party: A Dead Mom Graphic Memoir by Tyler Feder- this graphic memoir absolutely broke my heart.  Feder's mom was diagnosed with cancer shortly after she graduates from high school.  When her mom dies, Feder so clearly is able to convey the grief she feels and what losing her mother was like for that it took my breath away.  I can think of lots of people to recommend this book to - and many of them are adults - and don't enjoy graphic novels.

Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd - this is a cute upper elementary/middle grade graphic novel about a girl who wants to get a dog, but finds out after visiting a local shelter, that she is allergic to them.  She tries to find some other animal that could be her pet, but nothing seems to fill the void a puppy would.  I think plenty of kids could relate to this one and maybe feel some empathy for people who struggle with allergies as well. 

I'm not sure what my next graphic selection will be, but after this first quarter, I'm actually looking forward to another experience with graphic novels.  

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