Increasing Visual Literacy and Critical Thinking Skills through Graphic Novels

Rebecca Maldonado is a recent graduate of University of Oklahoma with her doctorate in Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum. This year she will be teaching ninth grade English at Parkside High School in Salisbury, MD. Her scholarship and research focuses on arts integration, graphic novels, text selection, and developing and exercising teacher’s critical consciousness, along with the use of critical dialogue to develop social awareness in education and the community. She is also the editor of Arts Integration and Young Adult Literature: Enhancing Academic Skills and Student Voice. Jason DeHart is an Assistant Professor of Reading Education at Appalachian State University and a long-time comics reader. DeHart's research interests include multimodal literacy, including film and graphic novels, and literacy instruction with adolescents. His work has recently appeared in SIGNAL Journal, English Journal, and The Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy.

Foreword by Zachary Zajkowski

Acknowledgements

Introduction: A Conversation about Graphic Novels

Rebecca Maldonado and Jason D. DeHart



Section 1 - Research & Rationale for Graphic Novels

Chapter 1 - Toons, Capes, Comix, and the Graphic Novel:A History of the Sequential Arts and the Case for Inclusion

Christian George Gregory

1700-2020: A Timeline and Influential Books in the Rise of the Graphic Novel

Christian George Gregory



Chapter 2 - The Multiplicities of Multimodal Texts: Exploring YA Graphic Novels for Secondary Readers

Mandy Luszeck

Section 2 - Elements of Critical Literacy and Visual Literacy

Chapter 3 - Teaching Critical Visual Literacy Through Gene Luen Yang’s Boxers and Saints

Young Adult Literature Text: Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang

Kristen R. Strom, PhD

Chapter 4 - Arising LGBTQ+ Gender Awareness in High School English Curriculum

Promoting Visual Literacy with the LGBTQ+ Graphic Novel: Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home

Young Adult Literature Text: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Bo Liu刘博 and Kexuan Wu吴柯璇

Chapter 5 - History Must Be a Manual: Grappling With Our Past through George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy

Young Adult Literature Text: They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

Ashley D. Black and Joseph P. Haughey



Section 3 - Inspiring the Hearts and Minds Through Hands-on Activities and Digital Activities

Chapter 6 - Interrogating What It Means to be American through Decoupage: Recycled Shadow Box Art Show and Almost American Girl to Explore Personal Identity in America

Young Adult Literature Text: Almost American Girl by Robin Ha

Stephen Goss and Jennifer S. Dail

Chapter 7 - Image, Print, and Movement: Reaching Readers through Illustrations and Flipbooks about The Last Kids on Earth: Thrilling Tales from the Treehouse

Young Adult Literature Text: The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier

Damiana Gibbons Pyles, Eric Groce, and Adam Pyles

Chapter 8 - Fostering Independence: Analyzing Author's Purpose in Graphic Novels

Young Adult Literature Text: Nimona by ND Stevenson

Angela Hase



Chapter 9 - “The Overcoming of Otherness”: Teaching Visual Literacy through Ekphrastic Poetry and The Arrival

Young Adult Literature Text: The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Russell Mayo

Chapter 10- Illustrating Triple Consciousness in Melanie Gillman’s As the Crow Flies

Young Adult Literature Text: As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman

Nicole Ann Amato and Jenna Spiering



About the Editors

About the Contributors