Great Graphic Novels: 5 Comics to Keep Your Kid Thinking

• American Born Chinese by Gene Yang: This trio of tales follows Jin, a lonely Chinese-American student, Chin-Kee, the embarrassing cousin of an American boy, and the Monkey King. The interwoven scenes allow readers to make correlations between past and present Chinese culture and understand, through this juxtaposition, how myth, tradition, and stereotypes shape an Americanized generation. (Middle school and up)

• 2024 by Ted Rall: Sure, students read political parody in The Onion, but Ted Rall’s 2024 is a commentary on 1984 and Brave New World, dystopian novels on high school reading lists. Placed next to Orwell or Huxley’s tales, 2024 cleverly introduces satire, a powerful literary genre, and exposes how consumerism drives Western society. (Advanced middle school and up)

• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi: Black-and-white comics depict Satrapi’s adolescence in Tehran, the overthrow of the Shah, the rise of the Islamic Revolution, and the aftermath of war with Iraq. Her story – now a motion picture – makes Iranian history and culture accessible to American students. (Middle school and up)

• 9-11: Emergency Relief by various artists: The collection, which compiles distinct viewpoints of the attacks on the World Trade Center, is a quintessential graphic novel experience that evokes emotion from the dynamic arrangement of images and text. Graphic greats like Harvey Pekar, Peter Kuper, and Will Eisner contribute over 60 pieces on the fall of the Twin Towers, from simple reportorial accounts to complex metaphorical stories. (High school and up)

• Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. This is a comic book about comics; it explains the inner workings of the medium and delves into how humans interact with visual language. It is considered a definitive resource by the comic greats.

For other great resources, check out these websites:

Brodart: www.graphicnovels.brodart.com

No Flying, No Tights: www.noflyingnotights.com

Diamond Comics: http://bookshelf.diamondcomics.com

Comic Books for Young Adults: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/lml/comics/pages/