Snagging Reluctant Readers with Graphic Novels

School:: Herbert Cambridge Elementary
Subject:: Language Arts
Teacher:: Tiffany Weeks
Students Impacted:: 175
Grade:: K-5
Date:: September 11, 2020

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

Florida License for Learning License Plate Fund - $500.00

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 175

The media center at Herbert Cambridge had a small selection of graphic novels at the beginning of the year. Once the new titles were on display they flew out of the media center! Circulation in this section rose by a whopping 60%!

Some of the graphic novels had traditional counterparts. I noticed several students who chose to read the traditional novel after reading the graphic novel version. Students also sought out other graphic novel titles, including those in the non-fiction genre, which increased the circulation of some of our non-fiction books also.

This has become a popular section in our media center and I am looking forward to continuing to add to it.

grant photo

Graphic novel display

Original Grant Overview

Goal

To add a collection of graphic novels to the school's library collection in order to foster students' love of reading and encourage reluctant readers to read more.

What will be done with my students

It is important to identify effective literary strategies for engaging students who struggle with reading, since increasing the reading motivation of students has been shown to have a positive effect on reading achievement.

A collection of graphic novels will be purchased and displayed in the media center.

These books will be selected with the intention of attracting reluctant readers who do not normally visit the media center or are not willing to check out books to read.

Benefits to my students

I've noticed over the years more and more students coming into the library and asking, "Where can I find the comic books?" I explain that they are called graphic novels.

Graphic novels can help improve language and literacy development in all students including second language learners; the illustrations provide valuable contextual clues to the meaning of the written narrative.

A “picture book for children” as distinguished from other books with illustrations, is one that essentially provides the child with a visual experience. A picture book has a collective unity of story line, theme, or concept, developed through the series of pictures of which the book is comprised. This is a perfect description of a graphic novel.

Research has shown that one of the most powerful ways of encouraging children to read is by exposing them to light reading, a kind of reading that many children are deprived of.

In their study,"Reading don't fix no Chevy's: Literacy in the Lives of Young Men," researchers M. W. Smith & J. D. Wilhelm, found that graphic novels were one of the few types of texts that actively engaged male readers.

4th or 5th grade boys are some of the hardest patrons to attract to the media center. I need to show these students that reading can be pleasurable!

Budget Narrative

The grant money will be used to purchase approximately 30 graphic novels from Permabound, a company that sells books that are bound extra strong for library circulation. I would like these books to be bound properly, so they will benefit students for many years.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	Assortment of Graphic Novels	$500.00
	Total:	$500.00

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