Lesson Booster: Ideas for National Comic Book Day and Beyond

Get ready, because National Comic Book Day is here! 

Recognizing National Comic Book Day provides a great way to introduce comic books or graphic novels to students and give them a brand new experience in reading. Whether they are cherishing favorite characters or finding new super heroes to love, students will enjoy reading comic books while they build reading skills. 

EducationWorld has found resources teachers can use to discover new books. Create a lesson around one of these comics or graphic novels or guide students to choose high interest books during independent reading times.

1. Diamond Comics: Diamond Comics, a book distribution company, has created this Common Core-aligned comic book list for teachers to use in their classroom. In their Diamond Graphic Novel Common Core List, the site, "offers 83 graphic novels from our publishers that will fit into a Common Core curriculum, along with resources including Library Classifications, Subject Headings, and Core Standards which apply to each book." Visit the publisher to see the detailed list!
2. Graphic Novels Reading List: This list was curated by the Quicklists Consulting Committee in 2011, "that can be used when starting or maintaining a children’s graphic novel collection." The list provided includes a list of black and white and full-color comic books for grades K-12:

• Grades K-2:  One color comic book suggestion is "The Adventures of Polo" by Regis Faller. In this comic, "little dog Polo takes up his backpack and umbrella and sets out in his boat to explore exciting new places. In its black and white list, one book suggestion is "Luke on the Loose" by Harry Bliss. In this comic, "A young boy’s fascination with pigeons soon erupts into a full blown chase around Central Park, across the Brooklyn Bridge, through a fancy restaurant, and into the sky."
• Grades 3-5: One color comic book suggestion is "Into the Volcano" by Don Wood, which is a story about two brothers named Duffy and Sumo Pug who "go with their cousin Mister Come-and-Go to Kokalaha Island, where they meet Aunt Lulu and become trapped in an erupting volcano. In its black and white list, one comic book, "Sidekicks" by Dan Santat, is a story where students can follow Captain Amazing who "is looking for a new sidekick, and his pets want in on the action!"
• Grades 6-8: One color comic book is titled, "Lewis & Clark" by Nick Bertozzi, and is an adventure that "begins with President Jefferson’s call to explore the western region and continues beyond the conclusion of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition." On the black and white comic book list, one recommended title, "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman, follows a young girl who "steps through a secret door in her house, she finds a marvelous new world much better than her own."

Article by Kassondra Granata, EducationWorld Contributor