Graphic novels, manga, and comics have been gaining popularity among readers of all ages over the past several decades–and more acceptance as teaching texts more recently. Publisher Spotlight is delighted to share that three of our client publishers held six of the finalist positions, and a category winner, among the Pop Culture Classroom: Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards for 2024. In addition to all of these gaining such honors, it’s noteworthy that each of them is a work of nonfiction.
Congratulations to Best in Children’s Non-Fiction finalists Caterpillars: What Will I Be When I Get to Be Me by Kevin McCloskey, published by Toon Books, and to Tibbles the Cat by Michal Šanda and David Dolensky, published by Albatros Books.
For Best in Middle Grade Non-Fiction, we congratulate finalists Big Bangs and Black Holes: A Graphic Novel Guide to the Universe by Jérémie Francfort and Herji, published by Helvetiq, and Paul Bunyan: The Invention of an American Legend by Noah Van Sciver and Marlena Myles, published by Toon Books.
Smash the Patriarchy by Marta Breen and Jenny Jordahl, published by Helvetiq, receives congratulations for placing as a finalist in the category of Best in Young Adult Non-Fiction.
And lots of congratulations to the winner of the Best in Children’s Non-Fiction, Shapes and Shapes by Ivan Brunetti, published by Toon Books!
To learn more about how judging for this award is considered, we talked with someone who knows it inside and out, Matt Slayter with Pop Culture Classroom. Thank you, Matt, for sharing your insights!
What is Pop Culture Classroom?
Matt: Pop Culture Classroom is a Denver-based arts and education non-profit with a mission to inspire a love of learning, increase literacy, celebrate diversity, and build community through the tools of popular culture and the power of self-expression. In short, we use pop-culture artifacts from comics, board games, video games, and film/tv to promote academic and social-emotional learning. We achieve this in three main ways:
- In-person workshops and professional development in the Denver area
- Hosting at appearing at events and conventions
- Free downloadable resources and lesson plans for educators and librarians
We are a small team of five full-time staff members, ten teaching artists, and a few contractors. We comprise educators, artists, and pop culture fans!
Tell us more about the Excellence in Graphic Literature Award.
Matt: The EGL Awards just completed our seventh awards cycle! This year, 94 publishing imprints submitted over 250 titles between four age categories; Children’s, Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Adult. The goal of the awards is to highlight and promote the best fiction and nonfiction graphic novels, comic collections, and manga released the previous year—particularly titles with academic or social-emotional learning opportunities. We do this to advance graphic literature as a learning and literacy tool, help publishers promote awareness and sales of finalists and winning titles, and to help parents and readers of all ages find their new favorite books!
What qualities do the committee look for when assessing a graphic novel or comic for the award?
Matt: Our jurors are typically split between the four different age categories. Each jury then uses a transparent rubric-based process (our rubrics are posted online) to score each book. Rubric rows include
- Originality
- Structure
- Approachability & Engagement
- Character Development
- Setting
- Art, Layout, and Design
- Educational Potential
- Cultural Relevance
- Additionally, there is a “Tilt” rubric row, which allows jurors to “tilt” the scales in favor of books that resonate with them, but perhaps did not score as highly in one or more rubric rows.
- Nonfiction titles are not evaluated on character development and setting, but are instead evaluated on Authenticity & Accuracy, and Depth & Complexity.
When evaluating titles for Book of the Year and the Mosaic Award, jurors are given a set of guidelines, and they vote for titles they feel best fulfills the descriptions.
For Book of the Year, these include:
- Themes/Appeal
- Innovation
- Accuracy & Authenticity
- Overall Story Quality
- Overall Art Quality and Design
- Educational Potential
The Mosaic Award celebrates stories about and from diverse communities, ethnicities, nationalities, faiths, and identities. Guidelines include consideration of:
- Content
- Characters & Settings
- Themes
- Educational Potential
- Inclusivity
- Innovation
What are your goals in highlighting graphic literature for kids?
Matt: The EGL Awards highlight graphic literature for all ages! For kids though, we are looking for Children’s (Ages 0-10 or Grades 0-4) and Middle Grade (Ages 10-14 or Grades 5-8) titles that they will fall in love with, and that can teach them something about our world and the people in it. Students who read more for pleasure have higher literacy skills, so we want to find books that they will enjoy reading!
We also want to highlight titles that honor children’s perspectives, experiences, intelligence, and curiosity. Children deserve high-quality literature that isn’t reductive or pandering but meets them where they are.
What are some ways graphic novels and comics be used in educational settings?
Matt: Graphic novels and comics can be used in the same way other fiction and nonfiction texts are used: as book study/guided reading, to teach specific reading and writing skills and techniques, to learn about and reference non-fiction subject matter, and to build social-emotional skills. However, there aren’t as many high-quality lesson plans out there as there are for prose novels. That’s why Pop Culture Classroom works with publishers to create graphic novel teaching guides, often for our EGL-award winning books! This way, teachers have standards-aligned pre-reading activities, discussion questions, project ideas, and more to be able to use graphic novels as learning tools in their classrooms.
There is an incredible depth to the amount of genres and types of content that graphic novels can contain, which make them applicable to almost any subject and grade level. And while many purport the ability for graphic novels to grab the attention of reluctant readers—which is true—they offer educational value to ALL readers with increased opportunities for engagement through art and art study, increased cognitive lift (inferencing what is happening between panels), and a higher rate of rare words (University of Oregon, 2013). And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!
What benefits do you think can come from kids reading more graphic literature?
Matt: We think that when kids read more graphic literature, they can have increased literacy skills, increased art-analysis skills, 21st century media literacy skills, and an enhanced worldview. Kids can see themselves represented in the stories while still using their imaginations to fill in the space between the panels. They can see others too who might have completely different life experiences. This can build empathy. As they see real people and fictional characters navigate life, they can increase their emotional intelligence and social-emotional skills—especially when the text is debriefed with a skilled teacher or aware parent. Finally, as they are exposed to the wide breadth of graphic literature content, they can gain and imagine new tools in their storytelling tool belts.
Thanks for all this, Matt! With almost 60% of public and school libraries seeing a significant increase in the reading of graphic novels, it’s no surprise that the books themselves are adapting. We are seeing more and more amazing graphic novels emerge including graphic nonfiction, graphic historical fiction, and STEM-based panel art reads that make it easier for young children to engage and enjoy reading. Thank you to the entire Pop Culture Classroom team for creating the space and resources for children, parents, educators, and graphic novel enthusiasts to continue reading what they love.