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If you are interested in information about graphic novels in schools or libraries:
BRODART INFORMATION
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Phone: (800) 474-9816
Email: support@brodart.com
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Graphic Novels Lure Teens
To School, Public Libraries
Library Hotline, March 15, 2004
The Ocean Springs branch of the Jackson-George Regional Library System, MS, is using a $5000 grant to build a collection of graphic novels to entice teenagers and young adults to read. In Palm County, FL, the 600 book graphic novel collection is a mere one percent of the total library collection at the Boynton Beach high school. They account for 50 percent of the library's circulation, with a limit of four per student checked out at one time.
Adding graphic novels to the collection is part of the effort to improve the "D" rating the high school got from the state. Teachers have been working to improve reading skills, and therefore boost the scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests. One student who described how he got hooked on the new reading incentive told the Sun-Sentinel that now he has trouble reading regular books because they don't have enough pictures. Will Heckman, the schools media specialist, said the graphic novels are geared to the new generation of visual learners. Broward County schools are moving slowly into stocking graphic novels to weed out those with language, violence, and sexual content not allowed in classrooms.
In Ocean Springs, although the graphic novels will be housed at one branch, the other seven branches in the regional system will have access to them. Video games and the Internet have created a generation that is more visually inclined and less "word-friendly," officials say, although on librarian described the books as a blend of literature and art. Librarian Jill Tempest told the Biloxi Sun-Herald that the illustrated novels could recruit a new generation of "readers and enthusiastic library users."
Copright 2004 by Reed Elsevier Inc.
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