Harness the power of graphic novels to promote literacy and engage all secondary students with Teaching Graphic Novels by Katie Monnin! Address print-text and image literacies, from navigating text features to creating standards-based lessons on reading comprehension, fiction/nonfiction, written response, critical thinking, and media literacy. Complete with examples from graphic novels, professional resource suggestions, strategies that can be used with any graphic novel, cross-indexes of middle and high school graphic novels and themes, reproducibles, and extra support for English-language learners. Teaching Graphic Novels was a finalist for both the 2009 ForeWord Education Book of the Year and the 2010 AEP Distinguished Achievement Award in the 6-8 Curriculum and Instruction category! Responding to the growth of all forms of graphic novels and nonfiction, Monnin advocates using the material that students willingly read to improve literacy, not just in reading classrooms but also as part of the English/Language Arts curriculum. Although there is nothing groundbreaking in her thesis, she is a cheerleader for using standard techniques, such as story maps, in a new and more graphic manner. The examples and book titles will be a help to teachers unfamiliar with graphic novels and suggestions for comparison units using a graphic novel with a traditional novel will support those more at ease with conventional selections. The appendixes alone are worth the cost of the book. This should be in the professional collections of all secondary school libraries.— Suanne Roush, Osceola High School, Seminole, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. During the past 10 years working with Jim Davis, Garfield's creator, I've seen dozens of letters from parents explaining that they routinely use comics strips to teach children to read. It seems logical that graphic novels can expand on that concept and teach higher order cognitive skills while motivating children at the same time. There's no better way to engage the reluctant reader or inspire a child than through the use of graphic novels. Dr. Katie Monnin's book offers a teacher-friendly approach for reading strategies using graphic novels in the classroom and even includes methods to work with English language learners. If you consider yourself a progressive teacher, this book is for you! --Bob Levy, The Professor Garfield Foundation Fortunately, Dr. Monnin wholeheartedly tackles all the issues that will confront any educator ready to embark upon the innovative approach of bringing graphic novels in the classroom. Dr. Monnin gives us a clearly articulated presentation of how one can exploit students almost visceral attraction towards comics and turn the medium into a rich tool for fostering the students interests and literacy skills throughout their schooling....If we can, as Dr. Monnin suggests here, take advantage of the many possibilities inherent in the comics medium, if we open up to a literacy that students are eager for, to a form of printed communication that is intuitively clear to children and will motivate them, then we can all, working together, become more broadly literate in the twenty-first century. --Françoise Mouly, art editor of The New Yorker and editorial director of TOON Books Katie Monnin is an assistant professor of literacy at University of North Florida in Jacksonville. She has presented nationally at conferences on teaching graphic novels in the classroom, image and print-text literacies, and new media. Katie is co-editor of Florida Reading Quarterly. Used Book in Good Condition