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The Migrant Detention Centers and the fact that so many children have been separated from their families is in our news daily. The whole thing sickens me, but I don’t want to go on a political rant…

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Yet another great memoir graphic text...

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Comic: How audiobooks enable the shared experience of listening to a good story

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Growing up without a television at home, cartoonist Kate Wheeler and her brother shared the joys of listening to audiobooks as children.

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from Rebekah O'Dell's paid Moving Writers community, available on Instagram. She is using Persepolis as the mentor text with her eighth graders.

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Serious subjects can be scrutinized in a shorter graphic text to encourage student collaborations and creations.

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The Side Eye: A climate change reality check

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Lifestyle tweaks and good intentions aren't enough. The events of the last few weeks are a reality check, and we need serious change now.

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5. CARTOON STRIPS

We all know the student who loves to draw or truly enjoys a good graphic novel. Try offering students the opportunity to use the graphic novel or comic strip format for poetry writing inspiration. This assignment could work a couple different ways.

1) Students could choose an existing comic strip or several pages from a graphic novel. They could white out the text and fill in the blanks with verse. To add a twist, you could photocopy a few pages and white out the text in the bubbles. This approach would mean students don’t already know what the original text says and may lead to more original verses.

2) Students who enjoy drawing could illustrate their own comic strip or graphic novel pages from scrap and also write poetry to accompany the images.

THIS IDEA COMES FROM: teachwriting.org

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13 Ways Pictures Can Inspire Students to Write Poetry - TeachWriting.org

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Get students writing poetry in meaningful ways! Pictures make everything more relevant. Check out these 13 approaches for amplifying poetry with visuals.

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This post was written by NCTE member Kasey Short. It's part of Build Your Stack®, an NCTE initiative focused exclusively on helping teachers build their book knowledge and their classroom libraries. Build Your Stack® provides a forum for contributors to share books from their classroom experience; inclusion in a blog post does not imply endorsement or promotion of specific books by NCTE.
Often students are drawn to graphic novels because they think of them as more enjoyable and quicker to read than traditional texts. Nonfiction graphic novels engage readers and provide opportunities to teach students how to read nonfiction texts. When reading traditional nonfiction, students often skim or bypass the images and graphic representations entirely. Nonfiction graphic novels provide a unique way to teach students the value of reading images and combining what they learn through the words and pictures to develop a complete understanding of the topic. Additionally, graphic nonfiction helps to counter the idea that nonfiction is boring and inspires curiosity that encourages students to explore additional sources to deepen their knowledge about a topic or person.
Almost American Girl by Robin Ha
In this honest memoir, Robin shares her experience growing up in Korea and then unexpectedly moving to Alabama with a new stepfamily. In her memoir Robin gives insight into her immigrant experience as she navigates learning a new language, experiencing new cultures, meeting new people, and ultimately discovering how creating comics helps her express herself.

This book uses vibrant illustrations to tell Omar's story of growing up as a Somali refugee in a refugee camp. It details his experiences in the camp, the sacrifices he made to get an education, and the time he spent waiting for an opportunity to come to America. The book shows the heartbreak and dire conditions of Omar's time in the camp but leaves the reader with hope as they learn that he made it to America.

In his new graphic memoir Jarrett shares his experience as a high school student working at a summer camp for students who are experiencing serious illness. Through his experience the reader sees the value of human connection and finding hope in what seems like a hopeless situation. Also, check out his previous graphic memoir Hey, Kiddo.

This powerful graphic novel tells the story of Rebecca Hall's experience researching slave revolts led by women and then how she works to share their untold story with others. It also showcases what she learned in her research combined with fiction to construct what she thinks might have happened to these women.

This book tells Brian's firsthand account of the 2017 wildfire in California. He reveals his own experiences during the wildfire and throughout the aftermath, while also weaving in other stories of members of his community and how they were impacted by the wildfire.
March Series by John Lewis and Nate Powell
This powerful and important trilogy recounts John Lewis's personal experiences fighting for civil rights and many important moments of the civil rights movement. The books include moments such as John Lewis meeting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his participation in nonviolent protest, and the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

This book tells Anne Frank's well-known story with beautiful artwork that captures the emotion of Anne's story. The images in this book help readers visualize her living quarters in the annex. The author also includes some full diary entries to showcase Anne's authentic voice from her diary.

This beautifully illustrated book highlights women throughout history and across the world who rebelled against society's expectations of them and who inspire today's youth with their "brazen" approach toward life. This book can be read cover to cover or as individual snapshots of specific women.

Interested in learning more about the role of nonfiction in the classroom? In this new position statement, NCTE encourages educators to create space for nonfiction literature within curricula. Not meant to replace fiction or poetry, nonfiction should live and breathe alongside those genres in reading and writing instruction, literary analysis, critical literacy explorations, and more.
NCTE and independent bookstores will receive a small commission from purchases made using the links above. Kasey Short earned a BA in middle school education from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill with a concentration in English and history. She earned a Master's of Education in curriculum and instruction from Winthrop University. She is the Middle School Director of Studies and an 8th grade English teacher at Charlotte Country Day School, North Carolina. It is the policy of NCTE in all publications, including the Literacy & NCTE blog, to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, the staff, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.

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Build Your Stack: Graphic Novel Nonfiction

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This post was written by NCTE member Kasey Short. It's part of Build Your Stack ®, an NCTE initiative focused exclusively on helping teachers build their book knowledge and their classroom libraries. Build Your Stack® provides a forum for contributors to share books from their classroom experience; inclusion in a blog post does not imply endorsement or promotion of specific books by NCTE.

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Her column "Meanwhile"
Just cool mentor texts to share with students
(I think it applies here...)

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Wendy MacNaughton’s illustrated column about the big implications of seemingly small things.

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This would be a powerful poem to create visually, wouldn't it—a scene to try?

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Understanding comics is the name of the Scott McCloud Book  https://scottmccloud.com/2-print/1-uc/

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Baseball Saved Us
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmRWOr0YbTE

Bat 6  by Virginia Euwer Wolff
https://www.virginiaeuwerwolff.com/books/bat6/
Wolff's novel about the sentiments of racism, patriotism and guilt that bubble over in two small Oregon towns after World War II here becomes a compelling, if sometimes hard to follow, audiobook. In 1949, the sixth-grade girls of Barlow Road Grade School and Bear Creek Ridge Grade School are ready to stand off in the 50th annual Bat 6 softball game. Teams from both schools practice all year in preparation, and when the historic game arrives, it is sullied by a violent clash between Shazam (Shirley), a Barlow player whose father died at Pearl Harbor, and Aki, a Japanese-American on the Bear Creek team whose family spent several years in an internment camp. Shazam's attack on Aki, an act that breaks Aki's jaw, forces the communities not only to end the game but to reexamine their feelings about the war. The story unfolds as a series of first-person narrations by all 21 players from both teams, a convention that requires a bit of diligence to keep track of the characters. But the youthful-sounding performers have strong, assured voices that will help keep listeners interested. Those who stick with it are rewarded by a dramatic, thought-provoking tale. Ages 10-up. (Apr.)

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I just launched my Refugee by Alan Gratz unit using the graphic novel The Unwanted by Don Brown. I highly recommend using this graphic as a non-fiction launch into the book. We read The Unwanted in five days. Graphics are an incredible way to build content knowledge for a broad array of literature.

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I love this article about graphic novels by Gene Yang--written in comic format!  (From Language Arts journal).

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I love this article about graphic novels by Gene Yang--written in comic format!  (From Language Arts journal).

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This would/could be a great companion read for "Displacement."

On my "maybe someday" list: a unit built around "Displacement," "We Hereby Refuse," and "They Called Us Enemy."

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Winner of the 2020 Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature!

Winner of the 2020 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work!

" They Called Us Enemy is truly beautiful - moving, thoughtful, important, engaging, and stunningly rendered. I am so excited to see this book's impact on the world." - Jacqueline Woodson, National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming

"George Takei's story reveals the important lessons of the WWII Japanese American Incarceration that still need to be learned today. They Called Us Enemy is a compelling must-read for all ages." - Karen Korematsu, Founder and Executive Director, Fred T. Korematsu Institute

"Riveting... Takei has evolved into an increasingly powerful voice for oppressed communities, and Enemy finds him at peak moral clarity - an unflinching force in these divisive times." - The Washington Post

"A detailed, wrenching account... They Called Us Enemy should prove the most potent introduction for younger readers to this ignoble chapter in our history." - The New York Times

"Powerful, moving and relevant." - Los Angeles Times

"Moving and layered... Giving a personal view into difficult history, [ They Called Us Enemy] is a testament to hope and tenacity in the face of adversity." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A compelling blend of nostalgia and outrage... this approachable, well-wrought graphic memoir is important reading, particularly in today's political climate." - Booklist (starred review)

"This evocative memoir shares stories of the nation's past, draws heartbreaking parallels to the present, and serves as a cautionary tale for the future." - School Library Journal (starred review)

"Emotionally staggering... They Called Us Enemy also inspires readers to engage through democracy to insist that we treat fellow human beings with fairness and dignity." - Amazon's "Best Books of the Month"

"A cogent reminder that liberty and justice is not always for all, They Called Us Enemy explores a dark episode of America's past as it dives into the heart of a pop culture icon." - Foreword Reviews' "Indie Books That'll Blow You Away"

"The creators are gifted storytellers, and Takei has a great story to tell, full of unexpected twists. And as compelling as it is, it is also inspirational, a story of ordinary people and the choices they faced in an extraordinary time." "A tale of triumph over adversity." - BBC America

American Book Award AWARD 2020

Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APLA)-Literature Award AWARD 2020

Eisner Awards AWARD 2020

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They Called Us Enemy: Expanded Edition by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, Harmony Becker: 9781603094702 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

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Winner of the 2020 Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature! Winner of the 2020 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work! " They Called Us Enemy is truly beautiful - moving, thoughtful, important, engaging, and stunningly rendered. I am so excited to see this book's impact on the world."

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This is a great read and could make a great companion read for "Displacement."

On my "maybe someday" list: a unit built around "Displacement," "We Hereby Refuse," and "They Called Us Enemy."

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Script by Frank AbeStory by Frank Abe & Tamiko NimuraWith artwork by Ross Ishikawa & Matt SasakiA co-production with Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience A graphic novel with the story of camp as you’ve never seen it before. Three voices. Three acts of defiance. One mass…

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A Short Video Clip of Tommie Smith discussing 'Victory Stand!'

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A Short Video Clip of Tommie Smith discussing 'Victory Stand!'

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Olympian Tommie Smith discusses new book, 'Victory. Stand!'

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10 Graphic Novels for Your Classroom Library

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10 Graphic Novels for Your Classroom Library

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I've been reading a loooooooot of graphic novels lately, and I've found some gems! So in case you're on a quest for new graphic novels for your classroom - whether for a whole class read, book clubs, your First Chapter Friday program, or your choice reading shelves - here are a few of my favorites.

I hope they'll save you time honing in on the ones that best suit your needs to pre-read. As always, keep in mind that the unique needs of every community are different, so I do recommend you read any text you're going to use in your classroom.

It seems to me that the graphic novel genre is particularly exploding in the middle grade category. There are SO MANY wonderful ones to choose from!

These are five of my favorites that take on some bigger issues, though I also hear amazing things about the fun and readability of the new crossover graphic novel versions of The Percy Jackson, Babysitter's Club, and Wings of Fire series sets.

Overall, my top pick is New Kid, by Jerry Craft. In this stellar book, an art-loving middle school student ends up at a private school his parents chose instead of the art school he hoped for. While dealing with the transition to a new school in a new neighborhood, he makes some wonderful new friends, and also discovers there are some different norms and expectations at his new school, where he is one of only a few students of color, versus in his neighborhood. He navigates code switching, confronts microagressions, and makes his way through his transition to this new community while still being part of his old one.

Muhammed Najem, War Reporter, Illegal, and When Stars are Scattered are all different takes on the experience of young people affected by war, migration, and the refugee experience. Of the three, I liked Muhammed, Najem, War Reporter the best because of the way it spotlights writing and reporting as an empowering route to changing the world. But all three could play a strong part in a book club unit on the experiences of refugees or on the effect of war on young people.

Swim Team is compelling in the way it tells a fun story about a girl who goes from being afraid of the water to being a strong part of her school's swim team ( Mighty Ducks and Rudy vibes), while also weaving in the history of color barriers in American pools and waterfronts. There is a powerful parallel story as the protagonist's swim coach is able to find reconciliation with her former teammates after a painful experience with racism back when they were teens.

I'm giving you five VERY different options here for high school students, and they are all amazing in their own ways!

I shared a lot about Gareth Hinds' masterfully done adaptations last week, but I still wanted to include one of them here. The Odyssey is probably his most popular classroom work, and it is SO well done!

I know Gene Luen Yang is most famous for American Born Chinese, but I really liked Dragon Hoops. This would be a fantastic book to give kids who love sports. It follows the story of a powerful high school basketball program through a highly successful season, while zooming in on the life and personality of each player, the coaching staff, and the former coaching staff. Along the way, Gene shares surprising snippets of basketball history that weave easily into the story. He also includes himself as a character, showing the way he grows as an artist and a risk-taker by interacting with the basketball program. It's a really unusual book, and I think many students will respond. Heads up, there is some mature language.

Jason Reynolds continues to be one of my favorite authors ever, and while I ALREADY think Long Way Down is a super high-interest read for kids in the text version, the graphic novel version only makes it more accessible. The art is powerful, the story is powerful, the author is powerful. If you haven't run into this book before, then know that it is about a boy whose brother was shot, trying to figure out whether he has to follow the "rules" of the neighborhood and try to find the person who murdered his brother and kill him. The long way down is the elevator ride he takes down from his apartment with a gun, and at each floor a person he lost to gun violence steps onto the elevator to talk to him.

Heartstopper is a fun read about a close friendship between two teen boys that might become something more. Charley knows he has a crush on his friend Nick, but everyone thinks Nick is straight, including Nick. But Nick likes Charley so much more than any of his other friends, and he starts to wonder what that means. This is a feel-good super-easy read that kids can get through in less than an hour. Plus, it's the start of a longer series. Teachers on Insta have told me they can't keep it on their shelves! Again heads up, some mature language.

Last but not least, The Dark Matter of Mona Starr stood out for me because of its art. While I liked the art in all of these graphic novels, this one really felt different, special. The main character is an artist and a deep thinker who sets out to understand her own struggles with mental health. She calls her waves of depression her "matter" because people always ask her "What's the matter?" The way this "matter" is represented in the book is so imaginative. I think kids who have felt the weight of depression will relate to it, and kids who haven't will find a lens to understand it better. I like the way the story confronts the true difficulties of depression but leaves lots of room for hope. Mona studies her difficult patterns and ultimately finds connection and support in dealing with them - from her friends, her therapist, her family.

OK, my friend, I hope you found a new book (or ten) you're excited to check out for your students! More to come on graphic novels in the coming weeks.

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10 Graphic Novels for your Classroom Library - Spark Creativity

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I've been reading a loooooooot of graphic novels lately, and I've found some gems! So in case you're on a quest for new graphic novels for your classroom - whether for a whole class read, book clubs, your First Chapter Friday program, or your choice reading shelves - here are a few of my favorites.

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Spring 2023 Announcements: Young Adult Comics & Graphic Novels

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Teen comics this season embrace and remix genre tropes in tales starring ghosts, demons, and one bloodthirsty mermaid alongside more serious-minded coming-of-age memoirs.

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Are you looking for a way to introduce graphic novels to your students with a splash? Maybe you've got some new titles for your choice reading library, a graphic novel or two lined up for First Chapter Friday, or even a graphic novel on the horizon as a whole-class read, and you wish your students were more aware of and excited about the graphic novel genre.

Ooooh boy, have I got an easy win for you. Head for the library and bring your brightest Trader Joe's shopping bag along, because it's time for a graphic novel book tasting!

Today on the podcast, find out how to easily host a graphic novel book tasting and why it's a great option for your students.

You can listen in to episode 170 below, click here to tune in on any podcast player, or read on for the full post.

Why Host a Graphic Novel Book Tasting?

OK, I heard from Simon Sinek that it helps to start with the WHY. Why not just slip a few fun graphic novels onto your choice reading shelves and see what happens? Or add a graphic novel into your next book club set and let interest ripple out?

Well, those would definitely help students start to be aware of graphic novels... slowly. But here's the thing, graphic novels are going to be such a FABULOUS gateway to reading for so many kids, why start slow?

When you bring in a wide range of colorful graphic novels and let students dive into them, you give them a chance to see the possibilities of the genre. Then, when they see one on your shelf, or notice one as an option for book clubs or literature circles, or find out you're going to teach one in a few weeks, they can get EXCITED. They'll understand from the moment they pick up any graphic novel just what the genre has to offer them.

Setting up your Graphic Novel Book Tasting

The first step to any successful book tasting is to track down the books!

Now let me start by saying that you don't need to spend $200 on graphic novels to do this (though why not start a Donors Choose project if you can?). I checked out about 15 graphic novels using the library app Libby in December and read them on my phone, because I couldn't get paper copies here in Bratislava! And I still loved so many of them, even experiencing them in this tiny electronic version.

For the purposes of sharing a lot of graphic novels with kids, and getting them excited about the genre, you don't need to have physical copies they can take immediately (though of course that's nice).

You can easily pull in your titles from your school or public library just for the tasting and to reference in class during mini-lessons or First Chapter Friday reads. Then you can create a digital bookshelf for students to access online.

Here's how:

1. Drop a picture of a shelf on a Google slide.

2. Screenshot the graphic novel covers you want to share with your students, then link them to their pages on the online library system to which your students have access.

You can find instructions, an example, and a set of templates to make it easy for you right here on Google Slides.

I shared some of my favorite titles from my recent graphic novel explorations last week in this post, 10 graphic novels for your classroom library. You'll see many of them above. And I recently gathered top favorites from other teachers on Instagram and curated them into the two recommendation sets below.

So you can keep these titles in mind as you explore your options, keeping in mind the unique needs of your students and community.

Once you have your books, setting up a graphic novel tasting is a fun project that can be as elaborate as you want it to be. The main thing is to create stations around your room with graphic novels spread out over them.

You can stop there, or try any of these additional fun-boosters:

#1 Music: Background music helps make it feel like an event. I recommend the gorgeous piano of George Winston.

#2 Ambiance on your Smartboard: There are so many options out there, like this video of the Hogwarts Common Room fire. Depending on what video you choose, it may give you music/sound too.

#3 Tablecloths: Sheets would work! Putting some kind of cover over your stations that makes them feel a bit like a coffee shop will help make the "tasting" extra fun. Centerpieces of any kind (wildflowers in jars? electric candles? jars of something?) would add as well. Maybe you have a student or group of students who would enjoy helping you create this classroom transformation!

#4 Food/Drinks: Adding hot chocolate, cookies, fruit kebabs, or whatever you (and interested students? interested parents?) would enjoy providing will also help give the book tasting an extra boost of special.

Running your Graphic Novel Book Tasting

OK, so you've picked up an armload of fun graphic novels either from your collection or from the library. You've created a digital bookshelf featuring those same titles, if you want students to be able to request and read them online. You've set up your room into book-tasting stations at whatever level of elaborate suits you.

Now it's time for the actual tasting! As students come in, give them a copy of this handout. As they explore the books, they should jot down their takeaways for three titles and give it a rating out of five stars.

Do a quick demonstration of how you might "taste" a book. Pick one up, check out the cover, read the back, open up to the first page, flip to a page or two in the middle, etc. Talk them through how you're deciding whether you might like the book or not. Then model what you'd jot down on your book tasting sheet out loud.

Once students understand the event, give them time to explore the different books, have a cup of cocoa, and fill out their takeaway sheets. As you wrap things up, give them a heads-up about where the class will be going from there with graphic novels, whether you're adding a new virtual shelf of graphic novels to the classroom library, offering graphic novel choices for book clubs or a choice reading unit, or focusing on a graphic novel as a class soon.

Extending what Students have Learned in the Following Weeks

The graphic novel book tasting makes a great launching pad, not only to ignite student interest in graphic novels, but to give you a bunch of great texts to work with in class.

Consider creating a display of the books you brought in. Students can continue exploring them or read them in class if they finish early. You can feature them in read-alouds and mini-lessons. If you're starting a graphic novel unit, you can use them as part of explanations of terms like splashes, layout, and composition.

If you've created a digital library shelf of graphic novels, remind students it's there. Consider creating a QR code poster you can put on the wall of your library that takes students straight there. Then if someone is loving one of your classroom titles, you can send them over to link directly to the digital shelf through an iPad or phone.

Sprinkle in book talks of the graphic novels if you get a chance, and let students book talk them too, as they begin reading (and hopefully loving) them.

Time to Try it!

OK, I think you've got everything you need! I hope you'll take these book recommendations, virtual shelf templates, and book tasting template and run with it! I'd love to see the book tasting you create, if you feel like snapping a photo and tagging me on Instagram @nowsparkcreativity or sending along an email (you can always hit reply to my Friday idea emails, I'm on the other end!).

Hey real quick, before you go, do you have your (free) copy of the attendance question image slides yet? These are SUCH a fun way to connect with students and build community in class. If you haven't tried them yet, now would be a great time! You can get three weeks' worth of free prompts right here.

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How to Host a Graphic Novel Book Tasting - Spark Creativity

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Are you looking for a way to introduce graphic novels to your students with a splash? Maybe you've got some new titles for your choice reading library, a graphic novel or two lined up for First Chapter Friday, or even a graphic novel on the horizon as a whole-class read, and you wish your students were more aware of and excited about the graphic novel genre.