Classic Fairy Tales in Comic Format

The classic tales have been told in a charming and bit unusual format by the publisher Stone Arch Books in the Graphic Spin collection. The interest level is age 3 to 8 and the reading level is grade 1-3 with 40 pages. Most the goodies that teachers have often used in the classroom are here. Rapunzel, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, and my two favorite tales, Rumpelstiltskin and Jack and the Beanstalk are in the first collection. They are a little dark in the "Grimm" style, but the main characters stand out. The art work is highly stylized, but appealing. Recently they have come out with the Emperor's New Clothes, The Ugly Duckling, and a couple of others. The art work seems a little lighter in the new additions. All the tales have a lexile score ranging from the early 300's to about 410 and are all available in library bound editions.

In many schools where students have emmigrated from South America, East Indian, Asian, or African countries these Germanic tales may be new to the students. Teachers often use the classic tales to build a commonality in the the classroom community as the ideas may be used to reflect the common good within the classroom, the school, and the community. Today that would be considered character education. Actually each of these have a character education theme. Red Riding Hood is "Trustworthiness" and Hansel and Gretel is "Caring". I do not necessarily agree with the theme assigned to the books by Stone Arch, but the students can decide for themselves as the story unfolds.

Teachers or home schoolers may read and explore five classic versions of Jack and the Beanstalk, so you may want to save these fairy tale graphic novels for students to explore on their own. By the time the boys are in second grade they often balk at Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty as they are considered these to be "girl" books. However, they would enjoy Rumpelstiltskin or get a good laugh at the stylized wolf in the Three Pigs. Librarians, even with the budget cuts in libraries, I would still take a chance on a few of these and see if the students, especially those reluctant readers, embrace them.

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize!

There are publishers with increasingly large collections of graphic novels for grades 1-5. The trick is to identify the good books and the ones that are just written to hop on the band wagon. As with all books some are good and some are terrible. How do we define a good graphic novel/comic for elementary students? It starts with identifying the purpose for using graphic novels. Are teachers using them to bring the reluctant reader into the circle of readers or is it to emphasis literary terms and techniques, for example, foreshadowing, in a visual medium leading to the development of critical literacy? Are teachers using them as a curriculum connection? Are teachers using them for those students who can read but just don't want to because they feel mainstream reading has no connection to the pop culture around them? All of these reasons are valid.

In grades 1-5 there are many reluctant readers, the purpose of using graphic novels/comics is usually to encourage students to read. Students have to be engaged to become good readers. At this stage it does not matter if they are reading Superhero or Pokemon. I dislike Pokemon (just a personal non preference), but my job is to give students something they will read. While they read they learn to visualize what they read and enjoy the reading experience. Often reluctant readers have a problem with reading because they cannot visualize. A picture is worth a thousand words. A good book engages the student with text and visuals. The next post will examine the characteristics of what I see as a good graphic novel. This is just my opinion.

Some publishers have jumped on the character education band wagon with graphic novels tagged as character education, such as Stone Arch Books, Tiger Moth series and others. These are definitely not the most popular comic/graphic novel in the library, but the younger students, boys usually, (grades 1, 2, & 3) will check them out, and they feel satisfied. However, Stone Arch also has the classics such as Treasure Island or Robin Hood. The publishers also have them tagged for character education, but these are classic tales with important curriculum connections that the reluctant reader would never pick up and read unless it was in graphic novel format. In the last few years many more biographies and history books are being made into graphic novels. Moby Dick has long been a mainstay in literature for high school. The graphic novel version by Will Eisner is another way of looking at this classic. For me the goal is always to get the student to read.