Available online at www.jmle.org The National Association for Media Literacy Education’s Journal of Media Literacy Education 2:1 (2010) 57 - 64 Voices from the Field The Graphic Novel as Advanced Literacy Tool David Seelow Excelsior College & Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, USA Over the first decade of the 21st century, Well-done graphic novels offer teachers an- comics have emerged as a strong literacy tool both in other tool to be used in the classroom and can the official school curriculum and in the after school enrich the students’ experiences as a new way movement. For example, the New York City Comic of imparting information, serving as transi- Book Museum has a curriculum entitled C.O.M.I.C.S. tions into more print intensive works, enticing Curriculum - “Challenging Objective Minds: an reluctant readers into prose books and, in some Instructional Comicbook Series,” the first museum-ap- cases, offering literary experiences that linger proved educational program designed to bring comic in the mind long after the book is finished (115). books into the classroom.1 Comics are particularly In fact, I want to argue in this paper that graphic novels motivating for reluctant readers, and also for English are not just transitions to more advanced prose works, Language Learners. Pictures provide a context, and the but that graphic novels, in themselves, are comparable stories introduce students to all the elements of fiction to the best prose works. Furthermore, graphic novels discussed in a Language Arts classroom.2 As vehicles offer advanced literacy skills to a wide range of stu- for discussion, comics offer a gateway to more ad- dents, not just reluctant readers, but equally, regular vanced works of literature discussed in middle school and advanced placement students. Even more so, or high school. graphic novels now belong in the undergraduate col- In terms of the after school movement, comic lege curriculum. book clubs have had a tremendous impact on students Graphic novels are also ideally situated to meet across the country. These clubs often have kids creat- the core principles of media literacy education (www. ing their own comics. Consequently, students move namle.net/core-principles). In this paper, I will iden- from passive consumers of texts to active producers tify how a group of graphic novels address these core of knowledge. As Michael Bitz writes, “ Children principles while also suggesting how the graphic novel are critically thinking about their roles in society can be used as an advanced literacy tool in the English and community by developing creative stories about or Language arts classroom. themselves, their neighborhoods, and their identities Over a three year period, I surveyed my Intro- as urban youths-what they experience, how they view duction to Literature students at Rensselaer Polytech- themselves, how they interact with peers, and how nic Institute (RPI). RPI features a strong math, science they struggle with daily hardships.”3 and engineering program. Literature is a general edu- Graphic novels, extended, self-contained cation elective. Nonetheless, students approach litera- comic books, have evolved out of comics to offer the ture with enthusiasm. At the conclusion of each term I curriculum a new vehicle for teaching literacy and en- asked students to rate the books they had read in class gaging reluctant readers. Stephen Weiner writes about in order of interest and value to the class. Each term I the growth of the graphic novel and its value to the offered a different graphic novel as the course’s culmi- classroom in the Bold Books for Innovative Teaching nating reading. These texts ranged from Neil Gaiman’s section of the English Journal.4 Weiner writes: Sandman and Cancer Vixen to Maus and Persepolis. Over the three year period, which would include 6 classes (approximately 160 students), 94% of the 59 58 D. Seelow/ Journal of Media Literacy Education 2:1 (2010) 57 - 64 D. Seelow / Journal of Media Literacy Education 2:1 (2010) 57 - 64 students chose the graphic novel as their favorite text ist ideas and support Nazi propaganda. Such images represent trauma? What happens when one profits off Marianne Hirsch outlines the characteristics of the year. Based on student interest and the graphic could, potentially, adversely influence how a student historical tragedy? These complicated ethical ques- of a bildungsroman in “The Novel of Formation as novel’s value as a discussion vehicle, I proposed, and perceives the text. Consequently, the text demands tions require students to engage Maus as a cultural Genre”12: now occasionally, teach a summer course called The critical thinking as a skill necessary to deconstruct product and agent of socialization. Ultimately, the text a). A Bildungsroman is, most generally, the story of Graphic Novel. racial images and reassemble those animal images as allows the teacher to pursue the question of histori- a single individual’s growth and development In what follows, I will outline some practical complex symbols for Jewish resistance to Nazi stereo- cal representation. How do we read images inscribed within the context of a defined social order. lessons for using a few terrific graphic novels in the types. Students need to exam their own bias and where within a historical tragedy. How does storytelling alter The growth process, at its roots a quest story, classroom. My own course has demonstrated that an that bias comes from. historical images and how the audience must process has been described as both “an apprenticeship entire term can easily be filled by the graphic novel. In fact, students can investigate an entire belief such images mediated as they are by popular culture? to life” and a “search for meaningful existence Additionally, the extraordinary popularity of graphic system around the very genre of comic books and ex- In understanding the effects of media on our under- within society.” novel adaptations for the film industry suggests the plore how Maus either reinforces beliefs about comics standing of history, Maus established a multilayered b). To spur the hero or heroine on to their journey, possibility of an entire course, or at least part of a as limited, juvenile fictional forms or challenges the text for media literacy. some form of loss or discontent must jar them course, on Film and the Graphic Novel. A few of the traditional definition of comics, and turns that defini- at an early stage away from the home or family lessons below feature the film version of a graphic tion on its head. For instance, the character Vladamir The Autobiography: setting. novel. often practices racial stereotypes in the present, while Media Literacy as Constructed Knowledge c). The process of maturity is long, arduous, and simultaneously, his past self resists and transcends the Autobiography appears to be a predominant theme of gradual, consisting of repeated clashes between Maus: Active Inquiry and Critical Thinking stereotypes meant to reduce the Jewish mice. graphic novels; from Alison Bechtel’s highly liter- the protagonist’s needs and desires and the Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Art Spiegelman’s Another series of short essay type questions ate Fun Home8, to Ariel Schrag’s9 teenage chronicles, views and judgments enforced by an unbending two volume allegory of his father’s survival of concen- forces students to investigate the complex relationship the autobiographical mode seems particularly well social order. tration camps has done more to promote the graphic between the story’s two volumes. The smash success suited to graphic narratives. Autobiography addresses d). Eventually, the spirit and values of the social novel than any other story.5 This non fictional, part of volume I presented Spiegelman with some unique core principle number six: media literacy education order become manifest in the protagonist, who autobiography, part story of the father-son relation- challenges for volume II. The author’s continual affirms that people use their individual skills, beliefs is then accommodated into society. The novel ship, borders on different genres. Spiegelman uses blurring of the past and present to create a complex and experiences to construct their own meanings from ends with an assessment by the protagonist of postmodern narrative techniques to tell a historical, contemporary narrative that allows students to explore media messages. The autobiographical self constructs himself and his new place in that society. evidence-based story. The best way into this novel is to how postmodern authors deal with history. meaning as he or she traverses the story’s terrain. This ask students a series of complex, open ended questions fictional self mirrors the reader’s self, so students see Assignment: Discuss one of the following Potential, that will inevitably spur class discussion. The follow- 1. Art Spiegelman recounts a racist incident from reflections of the self’s identity formation. The reader Our Cancer Year or Fun Home as a bildungsroman. ing five questions get at the heart of Maus as a graphic his college days in “Getting in touch with my in- must negotiate the same developmental tasks as the In terms of public health, the following two novel, holocaust survival memoir, and postmodern ner racist.”7How does racism inform the writing of protagonist. Consequently, these stories help students lessons address the value of graphic novels as social story. Maus? become aware of and reflect upon the meaning they documents and social aware teaching tools. 2. Discuss the relationship between the past and make of the media’s messages including how the 6 1. In The Art of the Comic Book , Robert Harvey the present in chapter 2 of Maus II “Auschwitz or meaning relates to their own life stage issues. In other Reading My Cancer Year by Harvey Pekar and argues that the author’s use of the cat and mouse Time Flies.” words, the reader matures along with the protagonist Joyce Brabner allegory reinforces Nazi propaganda and stereo- 3.