As teachers, we’re always looking for new ways to help our students engage with texts. James Bucky Carter and the contributors to this collection have found an effective approach: use graphic novels!

Carter and his contributors tap into the growing popularity of graphic novels in this one-of-a-kind guidebook. Each chapter presents practical suggestions for the classroom as it pairs a graphic novel with a more traditional text or examines connections between multiple sources. Some of the pairings include:

• The Scarlet Letter and Katherine Arnoldi’s The Amazing “True” Story of a Teenage Single Mom
• Oliver Twist and Will Eisner’s Fagin the Jew
• Young adult literature and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis
• Dante’s Inferno and an X-Men story
• Classic fantasies (Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, and Alice in Wonderland) and Farel Dalrymple’s  Pop Gun War
• Traditional and graphic novel versions of Beowulf

These creative pairings open up a double world of possibilities—in words and images—to all kinds of learners, from reluctant readers and English language learners to gifted students and those who are critically exploring relevant social issues. A valuable appendix recommends additional graphic novels for use in middle and high school classrooms.

Packed with great ideas for integrating graphic novels into the curriculum, this collection of creative and effective teaching strategies will help you and your students join the fun.
164 pp. 2007. Grades 7–12. ISBN 978-0-8141-0392-0.