Graphic Novels are For Everyone!

This is a new graphic novel workshop I offer for children and their families! It was originally created earlier this year for Burnaby Public Library.

This is best suited for ages 8-12, or Grades 3-7.

Contents

1. Purpose & structure of the workshop
2. Panel Shots Quiz
3. Match the Art to the Graphic Novel
4. Vocabulary Quiz
5. Unscramble the Comic

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The Burnaby Public Library explained to me that parents who come to the library with children are often new to the world of graphic novels. Parents commonly have a desire to encourage literacy in their children, but are unsure what their kids "should" be reading. The library wanted to engage families together in learning more about graphic novels and the benefits of reading them. Keeping that in mind, I set out to design a workshop that would persuade parents that graphic novels are valuable for enhancing literacy, while also being engaging and fun for the kids!

Purpose & structure of the workshop

I designed these games to teach kids about the techniques that go behind graphic novels, while showing parents the craft & value of graphic novels.

The workshop takes 1.5 hours. It covers 4 topics:

• comic devices
• visual devices
• vocabulary in comics
• continuity and sequence of events in comics

Slides are paired with comic-related games & quizzes that both kids and families can participate in.

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Panel Shots Quiz

Panel shots is a comics device. This refers to the viewpoint and zoom of the imaginary "camera" in each panel.

Examples include:

• extreme long shot
• long shot
• close-up
• extreme close-up
• birds eye view
• worms eye view

After showing examples of each type of shot, and the function of each shot, I show more panels from other comics and ask the kids to identify the type of shot in the panel.

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Match the Art to the Graphic Novel

Visual devices are like the elements that come together to form an artist's "art style". Visual devices can include any of the following:

• colour,
• line quality,
• shape & size,
• positive & negative space,
• perspective
• ... and many more

For the workshop, I focused on colour, line quality, and shape & size. These concepts will already be familiar to school age children through their art curriculum at school.

Participants are grouped into teams, and each team gets a sheet with the titles and cover art of children's graphic novels. Then, I show comic panels, and teams have to guess which graphic novel that panel is from!

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Vocabulary Quiz

This quiz uses vocabulary taken from graphic novels! For each slide, participants have to choose the correct definition for the circled word.

Middle-grade graphic novels contain a lot of vocabulary that I found just hard enough to challenge the groups. Some of the words included:

• assimilate
• the butterfly effect
• paltry
• marauder
• extorting
• pediatrician

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Un-scramble the Comic

For this game, I first show a few slides to explain continuity. Continuity is important for showing the sequence of events clearly in a narrative.

Participants get into teams again, and each team has to take scrambled comic panels, and put them back into the right order to create a comprehensible story.

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Overall, I've had a lot of fun doing this workshop! I got feedback from some of the parents that they found it super interesting, and that it helped them see the benefits of reading graphic novels. I hope that these games really help to highlight the craft that goes into understanding and making comics!

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Get more comic lesson ideas!

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If you're a librarian or programmer and interested in having me teach this workshop at your library, please contact me or refer to my classes & workshops page.

Please do not duplicate or re-distribute my slides. Self-employed teaching artists or school teachers are welcome to use my ideas to design your own slides and lessons. If you'd like to use these activities for commercial use or for an audience of more than 200 students, please contact me for usage terms and fees.

All artwork belongs to the respective authors and artists credited.

Fonts used in images: Soapy Hands by Sara Linsley