Graphic Novels

​Graphic novels as a tool to access academic content...

Recently, I read a graphic novel called Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi. It is about a girl growing up in Iran in the 1970s and 1980s. While I had previously attempted to learn more about that region's conflicts and underlying causes of them through reading traditional textbooks and news articles, I feel like I never really had a firm grasp of how the recent history of the country impacted how it fits in to the world today.

The format of this book, however, really helped me to see not only the personal impact of the revolutions and war during that time on one family, but also to understand some of the broader political and religious situations that contributed to this time of upheaval. While it looks like a comic book with its black and white drawings and speech and thought bubbles, and is broken into vignettes that could be read as individual stories, altogether the book really helped me to better understand the historical context of what has happened in the Middle East in the last few decades.

There are a variety of graphic novels and graphic representations of different historical periods that may help you or your student build background knowledge on this topic or others that students are learning about in Social Studies, Science, or other classes. Having background knowledge, as you know, will help you to better understand your textbook or other, more complex required reading. There are also graphic novel adaptations of many classic novels too, which can be a good supplement to reading the real book, an enjoyable review of major plot points, or a good previewing and jumping-off place prior to reading the whole book.

Below are some books that present, graphically, content that is common in some middle school and/or high school curricula:
English
The Odyssey adapted by Gareth Hinds (linked here)
Jane Eyre adapted by Crystal S. Chan (linked here)

Science
The Manga Guide to Electricity by Kazuhiro Fujitak (linked here)
Physics, Biology, and Astronomy all by Adrian Dingle (linked here)

Social Studies
​Alexander Hamilton by Jonathan Hennessey (linked here)
Cartoon History of the United States by Larry Gonick (linked here)
Understanding China through Comics (series) by Jing Liu (linked here)

Try reading a graphic novel, either just for fun or as an aid to comprehending other texts and school content, and let us know what you think by commenting below!