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"My Brother Charlie" by Holly Robinson Peete & Ryan Elizabeth Peete

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"My Brother Charlie" by Holly Robinson Peete & Ryan Elizabeth Peete

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This picture book discusses a young girl's perception of her brother Charlie with autism and that she does not necessarily see him with a disability but as unique. She explains that people with disabilities can still accomplish many of the same things that people without disabilities can do, but in a different way. Students can examine this story to discover how people can have a positive outlook on disabilities, just as Ellen Forney develops one in her memoir. While this text is a picture book, the story can still change the perspective of adolescent students to view disabilities as "different abilities."

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This article explains the different elements of a graphic novel that a reader should be aware of, along with informational videos. Students can benefit from reading this article, as they will be prepared on how to read Ellen Forney's graphic novel and how a graphic novel differs from a traditional novel. The videos give examples of how readers examine the unique elements of a graphic novel (e.g. color, background, etc.) to make meaning of the story.

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...when you look at a photo or realistic drawing of a face, you see it as the face of another. But when you enter the world of the cartoon, you see yourself.-Scott McCloud

Many of the texts we encounter in daily life are in fact multimodal ensembles. These texts combine written language, elements of graphic design, and visual images. Comics, picture books, and graphic novels all incorporate these elements.

Graphic novels lend themselves to being used:

to launch a genre study

as mentor texts for author's craft

as writing prompts

to introduce complex themes and issues

as a prompt for expository writing

for engaging students in critical literacy

to encourage authentic discussions in literature circles or inquiry groups

Introducing Comics and Graphic Novels

Below, author Gene Luen Yang introduces the elements of comics and graphic novels and discusses their use with students.

What is a Graphic Novel?

Jessica Abel and Matt Maden created this comic to explain some of the conventions of graphic novels. Do a read-aloud with this text to model the ways to read graphic texts.

Jessica Abel

Reading Graphic Novels:

Comics and graphic novels have a language all of their own. It is important that students understand the visual cues that are proposed by these graphic texts. Knowledge of some of the common elements of graphic novels allows readers to engage with the texts on a deeper level and make meaning.

Reading Graphic Novels: Introducing Codes and Conventions

Secondary Cycle II sudents are first introduced to the common conventions of graphic novels and are then invited to read and discuss a brief excerpt from a graphic memoir.

Reading Graphic Novels: Using Conventions to Make Meaning

Secondary Cycle II students discuss War Brothers: The Graphic Novel by Sharon E. McKay. Through talk in a small group, they explore the way the conventions of graphic novels are used to make meaning.

Reading Graphic Novels: Using Conventions to Make Meaning

Secondary Cycle II students discuss Essex County by Jeff Lemire and use the conventions to discover the memoir's big ideas.

Conventions of Graphic Novels

Sometimes the first page of a comic or graphic novel, a splash page is a full page panel that is often used to relate the setting, main characters, and to establish a mood or context for the narrative. Inset panels (such as the memory in the thought bubble) are sometimes used to convey another time or place.

Blankets by Craig Thompson

Transitions

Transitions are used to create different effects such as slowing down an event to mark its importantce or to highlight a switch in perspective.

In this type of transition there is relatively little change that takes place between the panels. It is used to slow down an event and hightlight an important scene.

Blankets by Craig Thompson

The actions of a single subject are shown through a series of progressive actions.

Blankets by Craig Thompson

The action transitions between different subjects of the same scene. A common transition, paricularly for conversations between characters.

Blankets by Craid Thompson

The action transports the reader across different times and spaces. Can be used to convey a flashback or a switch of perspective.

Blankets by Craig Thompson

Additional Resources

Teacher Nathan C. Phillips shares his approach to teaching with visual texts in "How to Ruin Your Students' Reading of Visual Texts (and Still Sleep Well at Night)"

99 Ways to Tell a Story by Matt Madden can be used to encourage students to engage in multiple readings of graphic texts.

Jessica Abel and Matt Madden's DW-WP blog is particularly offers teaching resources for working with comics and graphic novels.

Picture This: How Pictures Work by Molly Bang explaing the way visual elements can be used to tell a story.

Reading the Visual by Frank Serafini is a comprehensive guide to working with visual texts.

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud is a primer on reading and working with comics and graphic novels.

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when you look at a photo or realistic drawing of a face, you see it as the face of another. But when you enter the world of the cartoon, you see yourself.-Scott McCloud Many of the texts we encounter in daily life are in fact multimodal ensembles.

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The hit song "Fight Song" by Rachel Platten references hardships that people with disabilities face and the might of perseverance. Students can conduct a textual analysis of the song lyrics to understand how people with disabilities overcome the barriers of their conditions. Ellen Forney struggles with mental health in the graphic novel but manages to persevere, just as Rachel Platten's song calls for optimism and strength when faced with challenges.

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Rachel Platten - Fight Song (Official Video)

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The article suggests that Van Gogh's mental health struggles inspired his art to hold "truth" and played a role in him becoming a distinguished artist. Similar to Van Gogh, Ellen also found her identity as an artist through her bipolar disorder. Students can learn from this article that a disability is not necessarily always an obstacle, but a sense of identity for certain people.

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Around the time that Tolstoy was tussling with depression and his spiritual crisis, on the other side of Europe another creative icon was struggling with the darkness of his own psychoemotional landscape. As he was painting some of the most celebrated and influential art of all time, Vincent Van Gogh (March 30, 1853-July 29, 1890) was combating his anguishing mental illness - frequent episodes of depression, paralyzing anxiety and, according to some accounts, the symptoms of bipolar disorder - which would eventually claim his life in 1890, shortly after his 37th birthday.

Van Gogh's most direct and honest account of his psychoemotional turmoil comes from the letters to his brother Theo, originally published in 1937 as the hefty tome Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent van Gogh and later excerpted in My Life & Love Are One (public library) - the same wonderful 1976 gem that gave us his thoughts on love, tracing "the magic and melancholy of Vincent van Gogh." The title comes from a specific letter written during one of the painter's periods of respite from mental illness, in which he professes to his brother: "Life has become very dear to me, and I am very glad that I love. My life and my love are one."

In one of the early letters, Van Gogh expressed an aspiration that remained significant for him throughout his life:

Let us keep courage and try to be patient and gentle. And not mind being eccentric, and make distinction between good and evil.

It's also a thought bittersweet in hindsight, given the self-compassion it implies for being eccentric. Years later, that very eccentricity would be interpreted as madness by his neighbors, who would evict him from his house and lead to his checking into an insane asylum.

Meanwhile, his bouts of depression, when they descended upon him, were unforgiving. In another letter to Theo, he writes:

I am so angry with myself because I cannot do what I should like to do, and at such a moment one feels as if one were lying bound hand and foot at the bottom of a deep dark well, utterly helpless.

But underlying his deep despair is a subtle sense of optimism that carries him and enables him to continue painting despite the mental anguish:

This is my ambition, which is founded less on anger than on love, founded more on serenity than on passion. It is true that I am often in the greatest misery, but still there is within me a calm, pure harmony and music. In the poorest huts, in the dirtiest corner, I see drawings and pictures. And with irresistible force my mind is drawn towards these things. Believe me that sometimes I laugh heartily because people suspect me of all kinds of malignity and absurdity, of which not a hair of my head is guilty - I, who am really no one but a friend of nature, of study, of work, and especially of people.

Like artist Maira Kalman, who asserted nearly a century and a half later that work and love are the two keys to a full life, Van Gogh begins to see his work as his unflinching sense of purpose, his salvation:

How much sadness there is in life! Nevertheless one must not become melancholy. One must seek distraction in other things, and the right thing is to work.

Having at one point subsisted primarily on bread, coffee and absinthe, he embraces work as life's highest reward, worth any sacrifice:

I believe more and more that to work for the sake of the work is the principle of all great artists: not to be discouraged even though almost starving, and though one feels one has to say farewell to all material comfort.

But in reflecting - as Kurt Vonnegut memorably did - on what makes life fulfilling, it seems that rather than conveying a conviction to his brother, Van Gogh is trying to convince himself:

I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?

And yet, Van Gogh ultimately sees his psychological struggles not as something to negate but as his artistic truth, as a vital part of his honest experience, which is the necessary foundation of great art:

Do you know that it is very, very necessary for honest people to remain in art? Hardly anyone knows that the secret of beautiful work lies to a great extent in truth and sincere sentiment.

Complement My Life & Love Are One with Kierkegaard on creativity and anxiety, then revisit Van Gogh's never-before-revealed sketchbooks.

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Around the time that Tolstoy was tussling with depression and his spiritual crisis, on the other side of Europe another creative icon was struggling with the darkness of his own psychoemotional landscape.

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"Reimagining Disability & Inclusive Education" Ted Talk Video by Jan Wilson

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"Reimagining Disability & Inclusive Education" Ted Talk Video by Jan Wilson

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This Ted Talk discusses the discrimination and inequality that people with disabilities face on a regular basis in the education system. The speaker, Jan Wilson, calls for educators to provide the proper resources and equity that people with disabilities deserve. This video could serve as an ideal introduction to the theme of disability, as students can discover that people with disabilities are looked down upon in society and countless educators do not put in the extra effort to properly support individuals with disabilities.

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Reimagining Disability & Inclusive Education | Jan Wilson | TEDxUniversityofTulsa

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Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me: A Graphic Memoir by Ellen Forney

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Social Justice Topic: Disability and Mental Health

Grade Level: 9-12

Synopsis: This graphic novel depicts multiple years in the life of cartoonist Ellen Forney, who is diagnosed with bipolar disorder just before turning thirteen years old. She tries to make sense of her condition, while finding connections to famous artists who also dealt with mental health disorders, such as Vincent van Gogh.  Through living with her condition, she learns to embrace her identity and that she does not necessarily need to be "cured" of bipolar disorder, as her condition makes her the creative artist she is.