The year 2019 was a historic year for the American Library Association’s Newbery Award. The recipient was New Kid by Jerry Craft, the first graphic novel to receive this prestigious award. Teachers everywhere rejoiced, because it helped contribute to the “legitimacy” of graphic novels. Citing the Newbery Award is a powerful way to parry challenges and objections made by some parents, administrators, and even colleagues. Now might be a good time to expand the use of graphic novels in your classroom. One way to do this is through the use of graphic novel adaptations.
A graphic novel adaptation is the result of taking a book that was initially written in text and changing it to a book that is written with both images and text. Graphic novel adaptations can extend and enhance the favorite titles that you use for novel study, strategy lessons, book clubs, and students’ independent reading. Graphic novel adaptations make these titles accessible to readers at a wider range of reading abilities and motivation.
The books listed below are wonderful graphic novel adaptations that are just perfect for middle-grade classrooms. Some of them are classic books that have been revitalized in the graphic novel format after having originally been written in text decades earlier. More than half of them are part of a series or quintet, which is likely to lead to more reading.
The Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin, adapted by Raina Telgemeier (books 1, 2, 3, 4) and Gale Galligan (books 5, 6, 7, 8). [Editor’s note: Since this article was first published, books 9–13 have been adapted as well.]
The Baby-Sitters Club books were all the rage in the 1980s and ’90s. Ann M. Martin managed to churn out more than 200 books during that era. Tweens couldn’t get enough of them. I happened to be in Colleen’s third-grade classroom on the day she brought in a huge box of her old Baby-Sitters Club books. She told her students how much she had loved these books when she was their age and read the opening pages from Kristy’s Great Idea, the first book in the series. The students, especially the girls, pounced on them. However, some girls were left out. The books were just too difficult for them. Colleen brought in the graphic novel adaptations of two of the books. All the children were able to read them. Even the boys read them! Colleen went out and got copies of the rest of the adaptations.
The Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner, adapted by Shannon Eric Denton, Rob M. Worley, and Christopher E. Long
The Boxcar Children was originally published in 1924. The author was a first-grade teacher. The original story is about four orphaned children who live in an abandoned boxcar in the forest. The author then wrote 18 more books in which the children become amateur detectives and solve mysteries. Since 1991, presumably after it entered the public domain, other authors have published many more mysteries with the same characters, prolifically growing the series to more than 150 books. Graphic novel adaptations of 18 books in the series—the original book, 11 of the mysteries by the original author, and 6 of the mysteries written by others—have been published in more recent years. The books in this series have certainly stood the test of time. Graphic novel adaptations will only help keep them going.
The Lightning Thief series by Rick Riordan, adapted by Robert Venditti
This fantasy adventure series first hit the shelves in 2005. The pentalogy chronicles the adventures of Percy Jackson, the son of the Greek god Poseidon and a mortal woman. All the books in the pentalogy have been adapted to graphic novel format. Riordan has also written a six-book sequel series (also featuring Percy Jackson) called The Heroes of Olympus and a three-book series called The Kane Chronicles, featuring Egyptian gods. Students who get hooked on the Percy Jackson graphic novels will have a plethora of related options to keep reading and reading and reading.
The Witches by Roald Dahl, adapted by Pénélope Bagieu
This Dahl classic has delighted children since 1983. Now, middle-grade readers can enjoy it in graphic novel format. This funny, spooky story is narrated by “the boy.” Dahl never names him. The boy and his grandmother discover a secret society of children-hating witches. The witches are planning to expand across the globe and get rid of all the children.
Coraline by Neil Gaiman, adapted by P. Craig Russell
Speaking of spooky, grab this title to add to your Halloween book display. Award-winning (including the Newbery) author Neil Gaiman pens the story of Coraline. She and her family move into a new apartment. Coraline discovers an out-of-the-way door. Behind the door lies a parallel universe. There is a woman who looks eerily similar to her mother and a man who is a dead ringer for her father. Coraline initially enjoys the time, attention, and food that she gets from Other Mother and Other Father, but when she tries to leave, they don’t want her to go.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (part of a quintet), adapted by Hope Larson
This science fiction/fantasy Newbery Award–winning book was published in 1962. It tells the story of Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and her friend Calvin as they attempt to find and rescue Meg’s father, who has mysteriously disappeared. This book is the first volume of a quintet. The graphic novel adaptation was published in 2015. Do you think that Hope Larson is working on adaptations of the other four books? I hope so.
Redwall by Brian Jacques, adapted by Bret Blevins
Redwall is the first book of a fantasy series. It chronicles the adventures of Matthias, a clumsy young mouse who lives in a peaceful abbey with other small animals. The abbey is attacked by a pack of evil rats led by Cluny the Scourge. This battle of good versus evil goes on for 21 more books. So far, only the first book has been adapted to a graphic novel.
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, adapted by Mariah Marsden
Orphan Anne Shirley is delivered to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, elderly siblings who were hoping for a boy to help do chores on the farm. They live in Avonlea on Prince Edward Island. This book is more than 100 years old, published in 1908. The graphic novel adaptation is introducing it to a new generation of readers. Readers who get hooked will be delighted to learn that there are seven more Anne Shirley books by the same author.
