The YALSA blog The Hub has a post, by Sharon Rawlins, about African-American graphic novels that secondary schools might want to look into. Interesting cross section of fiction and non-fiction titles including a number of award winners.

You'll love the video included in  this article about one of many events at the SLJ Leadership conference!  You might pick up some useful tips about making comics as well meet the makers of three different series!! Won't work for sharing with students but you'll come away with some great ideas to use with students and ways to talk to parents and staff about using graphic novels.
Enjoy

Melanie Hadaway, content coach for English and Language Arts, up in the Curriculum Department shared a link to a great article about teachers using graphic novels by Donalyn Miller in her Book Whisperer column in EdWeekTeacher. I think you will find it interesting and pertinent to your positions in the library. I would also recommend you check out the resources provided at the bottom of the article, suggested by her guest author Terry Thompson, a website called  "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" and the Cooperative Children's Book Center's Graphic Novel page.

Below are ideas shared by our elementary library staff on ways to help reluctant readers in the library setting-

• Listen carefully to what they want to read, be it comics or manga, and purchase what they ask for within guidelines. Get over providing only "good literature" and give them what they'll pick  up and read.
  
• Provide especially topics boys want to read... examples shared include military topics, super hero series, 'look and find' series, Star Wars readers and old standards like Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes. 
  
• Have enough copies (as many as 4-5) to fill the demand in order to take advantage of the enthusiasm from peer sharing when a new bestseller hits the shelves.
  
• Help them identify their reading level so their reading experience is successful. Methods include the 5 finger approach and the AR program.
  
• Make the book displays enticing, the library inviting.
  
• Group the books by genre to make it easy for them to find what they want.

These are just a few ideas. Don't hesitate to forward YOUR ideas and suggestions to LMS for sharing in this blog.  lms@k12northstar.org

Melanie Hadaway, from our Curriculum office, just stopped by to be sure we were aware of a series of graphic novels of the classics that are printed in three different levels of text. There is the Original Text, which " is the full, unabridged original script - just as the bard intended. This version is ideal for purists, students and for readers who want to experience the unaltered text."  Then there is the Plain Text, where they "..take the original script and "translate" it into modern English, verse-for-verse, whilst retaining the full essence of the play. If you've ever wanted to fully appreciate the works of Shakespeare but find the original language rather cryptic then this is the version for you!" And finally there is the Quick Text, where they "...take the dialogue and reduce it to as few words as possible; but because it still features the same artwork, this version retains all of the characters, plots and motives from the play. Ideal for younger readers, reluctant readers, or for people who want to get a quick but full understanding of the play."

What a great resource for classrooms that need to differentiate for students with varying abilities.  You can find out more at their website www.classicalcomics.com   They are a UK publisher so ordering direct doesn't look like an option but Amazon has many of the titles and some even in library binding (at a dear price naturally). The titles available include Frankenstein, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Henry V, Jane Eyre, The Tempest, Great Expectations, the Canterville Ghost, and the Christmas Carol.  In production are Midsummer Nights Dream, Dracula, Julius Caesar, Wuthering Heights, The Importance of  Being Earnest and Sweeney Todd.  Staring soon are Richard III and Hamlet.