This week I got to read two fantastic graphic novels! This week's entry will be all about how to utilize graphic novels in your reading instruction.
Summaries
New Shoes by author and illustrator Sara Varon is a story about a shoe maker named Francis. Francis is a donkey and he takes a lot of pride in his ethically sourced shoes that he makes. One day he gets an order from his favorite calypso singer, Miss Manatee! He is so excited to have the honor of making a pair of shoes for her, but realizes he is out of tiger grass, a vital material he needs to make shoes. Nigel, a squirrel monkey, usually brings Francis the tiger grass he needs to make shoes, but Nigel has gone missing. Francis and his friend Rhoda, a parrot, journey through the jungle with the help of other jungle animals to find Nigel. When Francis and Rhoda find Nigel they learn that he has not been honest and has stolen the tiger grass from Harriet the Jaguar. This isn't ethical and Nigel learns that and what he should do instead. Harriet kindly allows Francis and Nigel to take some of her tiger grass so that they can start their own crop of it for shoe production. Now that Francis finally has the tiger grass he needs to make shoes for Miss Manatee, there is one problem, MANATEES DON'T HAVE FEET! Yikes, that's quite a predicament, but with the help of Harriet and other friends they are able to work together to create a "shoe" for Miss Manatee to perform in. Author and Illustrator, Sara Varon, created this text based on the thousands of pictures she took in Linden Guyana. She captured photos of buildings, local plants, and local animals. She worked with local experts to make this text authentic and accurate.
You can learn more about Sara Varon at her website, click here to view it!
Stargazing by Jen Wang is a sweet story about two unlikely friends that end up being the best of friends. This friendship isn't without trial, jealousy, and apologies, but it begins to give our main character, Christine, the confidence to be herself and the ability to be a better friend. Jen Wang gives the reader the opportunity to look into two subtypes (there are likely more than two, but these are the two she shares with us) within Chinese American culture. Christine is from a family that values Chinese traditions and practices Christianity. She has a mom, dad, and little sister. Her parents have high expectations for Christine to be the best and to be extremely focused. Moon lives with her mom, her dad died when she was 6 years old. Moon and her mother are Buddhist and vegetarians. Moon has been encouraged to be creative, be herself, and to follow her dreams. Christine becomes envious of Moon's ability to be herself and the attention that it brings her. Christine eventually acts on her envy and immediately regrets it and feels a lot of guilt about it because Moon ends up in the hospital and they discover that she has brain tumors. After Moon's surgery Christine apologizes to Moon and fesses up to what she did to embarrass Moon prior to discovering the brain tumors. Moon forgives Christine and they end with Christine ready to be herself and no longer jealous of the freedoms that Moon has in her life. Author and Illustrator, Jen Wang based this text off of her own experiences as a Chinese American. Wang was raised more like Moon but had more of Christine's personality when she was growing up. You can read more about Jen Wang's Own-voice perspective by exploring the interview linked below.
Text Features and What the Text Features
Graphic novels give their reader opportunities and supports for growth that other types of text don't always provide. They are fantastic for striving readers because most of them have the big chapter book look, they cover a variety of interests, and they support the reader through visuals.
Text Features and What the Text Features: New Shoes by Sara Varon
The boarders around the images and text within a graphic novel give us secret clues about what is going on in a story that we wouldn't typically get if we are reading a traditional novel. On the left page you can see that the boarder around the illustration is a straight black line and on the right page it is a wavy black line. The straight line indicates reality or the present, and the wavy line tells the reader that this is a flashback or memory. A similar clue is given when you analyze the speech bubbles. The ones on the left are smooth black lines and the one on the right is wavy, a different color, and the text is written in a different font. The formatting of the text and speech bubbles on the left indicate that a conversation is happening, the characters in the story are talking out loud. The speech bubble on the right indicates that the character is singing. Much like the way the notes in a melody move up and down the scale, so does the speech bubble and the words within it. This is not always the case, but on this particular page that is what is being represented through the author/illustrator's choice in formatting.
Text Features and What the Text Features: Stargazing by Jen Wang
In this spread there are not many speech bubbles, but the facial expressions and lines used to emphasize facial expression exclaim to the reader what the words do not. In the top right corner we see Moon with an ecstatic expression on her face and we see straight lines around her head as well. The lines around her head add emphasis to her joy and exclamation about her good grade. Without the lines around her head the reader can tell she is excited, but with the lines we can tell that she is jazzed about her grade, not just excited. The lines act as an adjective to the preexisting feeling stated by her facial expression. We see a similar use of line around Christine's face, except this time it is emphasizing her shock and horror of the grade she received rather than joy. Without the lines we can see that she is shocked, but with the lines we can see that she is "Flabbergasted" or even "Bamboozled" by the grade she is receiving!
Connections Between the Texts and to the World Around Us
this chart can be found on pages 121-122 of Reading to Make a Difference by Lester Laminack and Katie Kelly. This chart can be utilized to lead discussions with students about the information the text provides them. Depending on grade level and how frequent you have modeled this chart, students will be able to use the chart independently to guide their
thinking and the connections they make across texts. The chart shown in the book does not include the "Cultural Authenticity" column, that is something I added. That column can be used to teach students about own voice authors and the groups they give us a window to look into (Laminack and Kelly, 2019).
An interesting aspect of New Shoes by Sara Varon is its subtle hints at the importance of ethically sourced goods and materials. In the story when Francis finds out that one of his materials used to make his goods has not been ethically sourced, he feels ashamed and takes the necessary actions needed to make his entire product ethically sourced. This text would provide a perfect segue into discussion about ethically sourced goods, what makes something unethically sourced, and why it matters. I am on the lookout for more texts that also incorporate a message about the importance of ethically sourced goods and I'll update this post when I find more texts that do.
A Picture Says a Thousand Words
There are no words on these two pages, yet it progresses the story significantly. On these two pages we see Christine's feelings and thought process very clearly. As her face changes so do her actions. she starts off feeling sorry for herself and wishing she was more creative and intriguing like Moon. The illustration on the bottom left of the first page shows her anger about not being the center of attention. Then, she notices Moon's journal and begins flipping to the picture of Moon and her teacher. On the second page in the third frame you can see a tiny grin on the small portion of her face that we are able to see. That tiny grin and the lines showing her placing the journal on the table for all to see shows the reader that she feeling a little justified in her actions, she isn't feeling remorse or the weight of what she is doing yet. In the second to last frame we Christine and we can assume she is staring at the open journal having one more moment to contemplate her actions and then she runs away leaving the book open for all to see and deciding in that moment what she is doing is justified. These illustrations allow the reader to follow her thought process and get inside Christine's head. This opportunity is not given to the reader in a traditional novel and can be a huge help and teaching moment for students who are developing their comprehension abilities. Analyzing what illustrations say to the reader is important for every reader to learn and do whether they are striving readers or thriving readers. Looking at the illustrations for the progression of the story builds the reader's ability to connect the unwritten story to the written story within a text. When the two narratives come together the reader is able to see the full picture in color of the story that is being told. They are no longer looking at the film or the image in black and white, they are able to see it all and connect to the text on a new level.
Comentarios