Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for February 27, 2020

You tell ’em, Phoebe!

say it like you mean it

Well, the line has to be drawn somewhere. Maybe not at Manga, but we certainly shouldn’t be allowing book reports on instruction manuals for garage door openers.

She’s really very mature in her use of written English.

Phoebe can’t help it if the story is THAT good.

I don’t know why so many adults equate illustrations with childish graphic novels are still reading some just as good or more so then books. Adults are always trying to make the world less interesting and I don’t know why. why give up cartoons and comics and toys and milk and stuffed animals in favor of beer and smoking and porn and suits with ties? I have latterly heard parents tell there ten year olds “Your too old for milk get a soda”

Bet Dakota’s mom is a closet fan of GNs. You know those who protest the loudest and all that.

The Little Prince is very short, set on an asteroid, and heavily illustrated for a certain degree of illustration. If it’s acceptable, Asteroid Boogie should be ok too.

And comics are literature!

It is certainly time to challenge the prejudice that animated media are only for children. Comics can be great literature.

I love that she has an Ozy & Millie sticker on her laptop. Can anyone make out the sticker above that? Or have any insight into the “Portable Hole” sticker?

Stand your ground Phoebe.

Stick to your guns kiddo.

Having read some of the classic graphic novels of the 80s, I agree with Phoebe. But I’m biased; I wrote a paper on growing maturity in comic books for my college creative writing class and used “The Watchmen”, “The Dark Knight Returns” and the story arc that was the basis for the first Incredible Hulk movie as examples.

Going off on a bit of a tangent…but that might actually work to her favor…

This librarian agrees with you, Phoebe! Graphic novels are books!

I wonder if Phoebe should be doing a graphic book report on the graphic novel.

I agree, they are definitely books. Here’s a good article about the subject: https://www.rhteacherslibrarians.com/latest-buzz/kids-and-educators-cannot-stop-talking-about-graphic-novels/

The whole point of a book report is to review a story given in a literary form. That could just as easily apply to a graphic novel as any other printed format. Heck, with the amount of fiction they print, you could even do a report on a newspaper!

In my experience, children who don’t read graphic novels seldom read anything else either. Don’t discourage the one when it’s likely to cut down on the other.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Phoebe, but I don’t think your teacher considers a “graphic novel” a book.

I believe Superman: Red Son is one of the best graphic novels. And THAT is a book!

If graphic novels aren’t books, how come I can find them at the local bookstore, hmmmm?

Back in the dim, dark past when I went to school, anything sci-fi was regarded as too low-brow to be worth reading. I think I even tried to get Gulliver’s Travels approved, which although a bone fide Classic was dismissed as a kid’s book, and boy was the teacher wrong about that!