I'm really excited to join Franki and Mary Lee at A Year of Reading, Alyson at Kid Lit Frenzy and Claire and Tammy from Assessment in Perspective to talk about this wonderful reading format! Hooray for Graphic Novels!
"What are your favorite kinds of books?"
graphic novels!
"What is your favorite genre?"
graphic novels!
In the past two years, I've been introduced to graphic novels, have fallen in love with graphic novels, but have never had to learn so much about a format.
Format?
Yes, that is what graphic novels are. A format. Like an e-book. Like a chapter book. Ora a hardcover. Or a picture book.
Yet may readers put graphic novels as its own genre.
Ignore that it's a graphic novel. If it were any other book, where would you put it?
As we build students' reading identities, we help them understand genres they enjoy reading. As they come to understand reading preferences, they should also understand they can read a variety of formats within that genre.
Thinking of some favorite series, here's where I would put them:
Fantasy: Amulet, Cleopatra in Space, Zita the Spacegirl, Jellaby, HiLo
Realistic Fantasy: Babymouse, Squish, Lunch Lady
Memoir: Smile, Sisters, El Deafo
Realistic Fiction: Babysitters Club
Interesting post. I too have been introduced to graphic novels in the last couple of years and have fallen into considering them their own genre. I see your point in thinking about them as a format to write in a certain genre. I'm also thinking it is important to understand the differences in reading a fantasy graphic novel versus a fantasy chapter book.
ReplyDeleteLove this quote from your post, "As we build students' reading identities, we help them understand genres they enjoy reading. As they come to understand reading preferences, they should also understand they can read a variety of formats within that genre." - So important for students to understand that they can have preferences about genre and format.
ReplyDeleteWe just discussed this today in 4th grade. In the past year I have added that to my genre discussion. What is a genre and what is not? It's helpful when we look at books like Brown Girl Dreaming and The Crossover. We talk about picture books, graphic novels, poetry and novels being just different vehicles for the story. The genre applies to the type of story, but not the form the story takes. It's a complex discussion, but one that upper elementary students and beyond can have. Some teachers are just now having the discussion. :)
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