I have noticed that my eighth graders can easily be divided into two groups: those who read graphic novels and those who don’t. In fact, these categories also work for the adult readers I know. I have met many readers who have never read a graphic novel in their lives and just don’t see it as a possibility because they don’t identify themselves as comic-book readers. I also have yet to meet a student who is not hooked on graphic novels after reading the first one.
What is it about graphic novels that is so polarizing? What makes some teachers refuse to allow students to count graphic novels as “real books”?
I consider myself a reader who enjoys graphic novels in moderation. I believe it is possible for all readers to enjoy the format and for those who are already hooked to deepen their understanding and appreciation of graphic novels. So, I decided to include a graphic novelist as an option for analysis in an author study unit with my eighth graders.
The Craft of Graphic Novels
I chose to introduce the craft of graphic novels with Raina Telgemeier. Her books are well crafted and appeal to a wide range of readers. Our unit began with a whole-class study of a short story by each author as a means of introducing the author and modeling the process of analyzing author’s craft.
We started our study of Telgemeier’s work by reading her short graphic story from Funny Girl: Funniest. Stories. Ever. edited by Betsy Bird. The short story “In Which Young Raina Learns a Lesson” is about a time when Telgemeier was young and got stung by a bee she thought was dead.
The story begins with Raina noticing the bee, then flashes back to a memory. When she was younger, some older girls picked up a dead bee and touched it, noticing how soft it felt. They offered to let Raina touch it, but she ran away screaming in fear. Thinking of that moment, Raina stomps on the bee, picks it up, and notices it is soft, but also ends up getting stung since the bee is not dead after all. At the end of the story she cries to her mom, who comforts her but is secretly amused by her innocent ignorance.
After giving students a chance to read the story themselves, I simply asked what they noticed or what parts they thought were important. This allowed me to introduce some graphic novel terminology without a lot of front-loading. As students pointed out parts of the story, I named the technique Telgemeier used at that point. Through this discussion, we identified four craft moves Telgemeier makes to engage readers: framing, flashback, inner thinking, and visual text features.
Framing
One student pointed out the ending of the story, where we see Raina scowling in the background and her mother, facing away from Raina and toward readers, laughing. He mentioned that we can see the expression on her mother’s face, but it is as if she is hiding her laughter from Raina. I asked how that choice affected their response as readers. A student explained that she felt like she was in on the joke, too. She went on to say that her mother’s reaction was probably the same reaction she had herself when she looked back on the moment. I named what students were noticing by sharing that Telgemeier was making a craft move called framing.
Framing refers to the way the author uses panels (boxes, rectangles, and the page all the way to its edges) and gutters (white space between panels) to tell the story. Most panels have a rectangular frame drawn around them, but the panels are not always the same size. The size of panels can be used to indicate importance, movement, and the passage of time. Sometimes, panels bleed beyond the expected borders all the way to the edge of the page or an image breaks the frame and enters a different panel.
Extending the image beyond a natural frame tends to make readers feel more like they are part of the story. Framing also refers to the images the author/artist chose to include within a single box, rectangle, or page.
Flashback
Another point in the story students wanted to talk about was near the beginning when Raina thinks back to the earlier experience with a dead bee. The frame includes a close-up of her face and a thought bubble to indicate she is thinking about the event. The thought bubble extends over several frames and onto the next page, when Raina returns to the present moment and decides to stomp on the bee. Again, I asked students about the effect of this choice on readers. They concurred that the memory was there to show why she decided to kill and then touch the bee, and I explained that it was an example of a flashback.
Flashback in graphic novels works the same way it does in other literature. It occurs when a character remembers something that happened previously. In a graphic novel, the author can provide visual cues to indicate that the flashback is happening. Flashbacks often reveal something significant about character or plot.
Inner Thinking
A student who frequently reads graphic novels pointed out that Raina’s eyes are only dots in most of the frames, but sometimes they are drawn as giant white ovals. I asked what she thought the bigger eyes meant, and she said it seemed to show that Raina was scared. I explained that the way Telgemeier chose to draw the eyes was how she revealed the character’s inner thinking.
In graphic novels, authors use thought bubbles and facial expressions to reveal a character’s inner thoughts and feelings. Often, framing plays a role in revealing inner thinking by including close-ups of characters’ faces or positioning readers to view characters face-to-face.
Visual Text Features
The final feature students wanted to talk about in the story was the use of text as part of the images. For example, in the scene when Raina goes crying to her mother, the background goes from solid gray to being filled with “AAAAOOOOOOWWWW,” to indicate Raina’s cries of distress. Students discussed how they felt like Telgemeier used the letters to show how loud Raina was and the way the sound filled the air around her mother. I shared that the name for that particular craft move is visual text features.
Onomatopoeia (for example, whoosh, thump), action lines, and symbols (such as music notes, special characters) are some of the ways authors use visual text features to convey information in graphic novels. By embedding words, lines, and symbols into images or intertwining images and text, authors communicate with readers.
After our whole-class study of the short graphic story, students who had selected Telgemeier as their focus for the author study unit moved on to reading a couple of her graphic novels on their own. As they read, they identified examples of framing, flashback, inner thinking, and visual text features. They also did some work to analyze what was revealed to readers through the use of each craft move.
Below are some student examples to demonstrate what they noticed. Quoted text is taken directly from student responses; regular print is paraphrased student work.
| Graphic Novel | Page Number | What Students Noticed |
| FRAMING | ||
| The Baby-sitters’ Club: Mary Anne Saves the Day (Book Three) | 22 | Telgemeier used a panel within a panel. In the inner panel, the bell rings and Mary Anne pulls out a note she plans to give Claudia. The background panel shows the entire cafeteria, which is where Mary Anne plans to make the delivery. |
| The Baby-sitters’ Club: Mary Anne Saves the Day (Book Three) | 85 | Mary Anne has her back to the reader and her dad is facing the reader. This allows us to see that her dad is angry because she got home late. The expression on his face communicates his anger. |
| Ghosts | 66 | A large panel takes up almost the whole page, showing Cat, the neighbor, and Maya walking down the street from a distance. Maya is in front with a music note next to her. The neighbor is next with his hands in his pockets. Cat follows at a bit of a distance. “Their neighbor wanted to give a ghost tour. Cat is only going on the tour to see Maya happy.” |
| Drama | 24 | The image of Callie breaks through the edge of one panel into another. “Callie’s body went from the top to the bottom of the page when she was explaining what she wanted to do for the play. This revealed that she had a lot to say.” |
| Sisters | 84 | “The setting around them is like clear skies, dark, and it’s quiet. The mood is like they’re peaceful. They are just relaxing right now, talking about things like how the mom and dad went to the same spot in the past.” |
| FLASHBACK | ||
| Ghosts | 89 | “Callie remembers going to a play when she was little. She’s reminded of why she wanted to be a part of plays in the first place.” |
| Sisters | 24 | “Raina tries to play with Amara, but Amara acts like a brat. Raina was trying her best to be a good sister, but Amara wants to do her thing without anyone else. This affects their relationship in the future.” |
| Sisters | 74 | This page shows a flashback within a flashback. The sections of the book that take place in the past have yellow edges. In one of those sections, Raina tells a story from the past and the edges of the frames are drawn wavy to show the story Raina is telling is a flashback to the time she became afraid of snakes. |
| The Baby-sitters’ Club: Kristy’s Great Idea (Book One) | 1 | The whole story is told as a flashback. Kristy is older on the first page and reminisces while looking at old photographs. |
| INNER THINKING | ||
| The Baby-sitters’ Club: Mary Anne Saves the Day (Book Three) | 27 | Readers can tell by the look on Mary Anne’s face as she looks at the note from her pocket and exits the cafeteria that “Mary Anne feels guilty about not giving the apology note to Claudia because she forgot.” |
| The Baby-sitters’ Club: Mary Anne Saves the Day (Book Three) | 98 | In this scene, Mary Anne is calling for advice about a child she is watching who has a high fever. “Mary Anne’s eyes are huge, which reveals she is really worried.” |
| VISUAL TEXT FEATURES | ||
| Ghosts | 48 | The sound (whoosh) of the wind swirling around Cat reveals she is scared. She is trying to reassure herself in her head, but doesn’t say anything because “Cat wants to protect Maya.” |
| The Baby-sitters Club: Kristy’s Great Idea (Book One) | 32 | “When Kristy and her friend were watching the kids, David was being pushed on the swing by his friend. He fell and THUMP popped up. This shows that the girls heard it and kind of panicked. This also builds suspense because you wanna know the next part.” |
| Sisters | 3 | “It shows Raina and Amara fighting with each other and them going after each other. The action lines there reveal them ‘punching’ each other, but their mood is that they are just mad at each other. This example reveals character because the action lines reveal how Raina feels toward her sister—that she is always mad at her or screaming at her. They are always fighting with each other.” |
With the clear example of the short graphic story to get them started, students easily identified additional examples of craft moves in the full-length graphic novels they read. Both students who had never read a graphic novel and those who rarely read anything else took away a new appreciation for the format.
Additional Resources
More information on techniques used by graphic novelists: Scholastic Graphix Teachers’ Guide
Short graphic stories for study:
The Hidden Doors edited by Kazu Kibuishi
Flight Volume One edited by Kazu Kibuishi
Flight Volume Two edited by Kazu Kibuishi
