The First Year Experience listserv has been discussing the use of graphic novels in freshman common reading programs today. I thought I’d share a few thoughts. Feel free to reply with additional ideas (or ask me to edit this post).
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi: adopted by many colleges in the past; the movie came out in 2007. “It was our most popular selection ever with students. Faculty members (with some overcoming initial reservations) agreed that it was a good selection that resulted in lively, engaged conversations.” —Roanoke College. Note also that it was a finalist for us in 2007.
- more on Persepolis: “Pacific Lutheran University chose the graphic novel The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. We found that students reacted very positively to it. Although many of them were initially unsure about reading a ‘comic book’ they really enjoyed the book once they started to read it. I think it is the best Common Reading book we’ve had! We don’t run our program through courses, though, so our experience was different than what you are creating. “Strategies that worked well for us included partnering with graphic design and English faculty, along with other staff on campus who have studied the art of comics, graphic novel plot development, and such. We drew heavily from Scott McCloud’s book Understanding Comics to help students appreciate the many techniques that made the book effective.”
- Kabuki: The Alchemy by David Mack.
- A.D.: New Orleans after the Deluge by Josh Neufeld: under consideration by the College at Brockport.
- Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman
I’ve had great success with Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home (2006). It’s smart, funny, readable, and thought-provoking. In my experience, the main difficulties one encounters when teaching graphic novels are these:Two overviews you might want to look at (the second ends with a long list of college-worthy graphic novels):
1.) students/faculty without much experience of the genre (i.e., little awareness of what other authors, texts, and/or styles they’re referencing).
2.) students/faculty who find themselves unable to make sense of the interplay between text and image.
3.) folks who assume they’ll be “easy”.
- Blog post about educating yourself a bit re: graphic novels. (Helps you see how to take them seriously if you don’t know yet.)
- And: http://raforall.blogspot.com/2010/10/graphic-novel-reading-list-for-college.html
