Not "a Waste of Money" but "a Rare Book Form": Children Reflect on Graphica

• In Event: Learning, Community, and Relations

Abstract

This paper presents results from a multiyear study of afterschool clubs in two suburbs of a Mid-Atlantic city. These clubs were designed for 3rd to 5th graders to read and create graphica outside of formal learning contexts such as the classroom. Graphica is an umbrella term encompassing graphic novels, comics, manga, and other texts that use comic format. The analytic framework reveals young people’s out-of-classroom literacy practices, and it aligns with the work of scholars who argue that literacy educators should incorporate their students’ diverse meaning-making practices into curricula and pedagogies.

Author

• Rachel Skrlac Lo, Villanova University