Graphic Novels



What I love about graphic novels:  Easy to read, quick, and beautiful.

Three of the four graphic novels that we read this week fit perfectly into the graphic novel mold.  American Born Chinese, and Twilight Part 1 and 2, each read like a comic strip with word balloons and the appearance of boxes of pictures.  Tales from Outer Suburbia is a little different.  Actually, it's very different.  I'm sure many librarians have difficulty with how to catalog this book.  I would probably not shelve it with graphic novels but rather with illustrated books.  Then you have another issue though.   Should it be shelved with children's books?  The "tales" that are included attempt to examine our societal views.  They may be too complex for younger readers (and for older readers in fact). 
As soon as I brought home American Born Chinese, my young daughter picked it up and started reading it.  There are three stories that at first appear to be each a separate story about Chinese culture and growing up as a Chinese American.  In the end they all come together in a surprising way.  This was my daughter's first graphic novel and she really seemed to enjoy it.  I think she was looking at the pictures mostly.  She was sure to point out the part when the Monkey King gets stabbed and blood drips.  She really got a kick out of Chin -Kee.  She thought he was funny looking.

And finally Twilight.  Ahh, Edward....  I read the original Twilight while I was pregnant with my second child.  If she had been a boy, she would have been an Edward.  I love the way Edward talks.  I think most girls do.  The graphic novel takes the story and makes it more visual.  There is a lot of descriptive dialogue that is missing but I enjoyed getting my dose of Twilight.  If you haven't read the entire novel (and I can't understand why not) and want to see what the hype is all about, reading the graphic novel will give you a good background and possibly the extra nudge you need to go read the novel.