Wednesday, January 9, 2008

THE BEST COMICS FOR YOUR CLASSROOM: A LIST FOR ALL GRADE LEVELS

This is a comprehensive list of all the HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and RECOMMENDED comics that we have reviewed. It is categorized by grade level to help teachers and librarians pick the best comic literature for students.

It is important to keep an open mind about grade levels. I caution you not to look only for graphic novels in your grade level. The books are listed according to the lowest age or grade level appropriate. However, a book listed in the ELEMENTARY: AGES 8-11 category may be very appropriate for middle school or even high school. For example, the many BEOWULF comics are categorized starting at elementary ages. However, these could also be used on the middle school and high school literature class as well. Keep an open mind.

Check back because update will occur as often as possible.







HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Emergent Readers




HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

All Ages




HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Elementary: Ages 7 and older


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Elementary: Ages 8 and older




HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Elementary School: Ages 9 and older




HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Elementary School: Ages 10 and older




HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Middle School: Ages 12 and older




HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

High School: Ages 15 and older

DC: The New Frontier (highly recommended with reservations)
Frankenstein
The Iliad
Joker's Asylum (The Joker and The Penguin only)
King Lear

Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
Watchmen, by Nate (highly recommended with reservations)
Watchmen, by Kevin (highly recommended with reservations)
Watchmen, by Chris (highly recommended with reservations)






RECOMMENDED

All Ages



RECOMMENDED
Elementary: Ages 6 and older
Night of the Homework Zombies



RECOMMENDED

Elementary: Ages 8 and older

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think that both Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew titles are great for the classroom as well. Easy to get into, and it's nice for the girls to have a strong female-driven book like Nancy!

Nate said...

More HS graphic novels needed! Maybe Deogratias by J.P. Stassen. It's pretty graphic (ach!) but it is a well done look at Rwanda. The others to look at would be the Persepolis books and maybe Epileptic by David B.

admin said...

Thanks for the suggestions, Nate. Persepolis is on the list, but Epileptic and Deogratias are new to me. I'll check them out.

Chris

Anonymous said...

a couple of great graphic novels worth checking out:
louis riel by chester brown...an outstanding history lesson wonderfully rendered in black and white
northwest passage by scott chantler, another great, well drawn history lesson with a compelling story

the arrival by shaun tan...never seen a story so well told without the use of a single word...transcendent.

Anonymous said...

I taught V for Vendetta after teaching Animal Farm to my high school freshmen, and would highly recommend its addition.

FWIW, I wrote of how comics were my own path to lifelong reading (and an eventual lit. degree) in "Reading Despite Teaching: How the Hulk Led Me to Hamlet". Why no Marvel and DC here? They ruled my childhood, led me to sci-fi/fantasy in high school, and finally, literature in college.

Anonymous said...

I am researching graphic novels for my 7th and 8th grade classes. I am looking at "Cairo" with some f-word censoring for a world geography unit. I am also looking at "American Born Chinese" for an American history unit. There seems to be quite a few from First Second publishers that can be used in the classroom that I didn't see on your list.

Mr. Wilson said...

Anonymous:

First Second puts out a lot of great books. We only list books we have personally reviewed. We just haven't reviewed all of First Second books. The fact is, there are just too many great publishers putting out great stuff for the classroom for us to review everything. But we will keep at it.

Keep in mind we are always looking for new writers to help us influence this comic literature movement.