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This time on The Children’s Hour, the Kids Crew explores graphic novels. These modern day comic books can help kids become better readers, while keeping them engaged and learning. Dr. Lee Francis IV has a publishing house featuring graphic novels for all ages written by Native authors and illustrators. We also meet a science illustrator whose books help kids understand complex scientific topics. Plus we have book reviews!
What kind of books do you like to read? If you enjoy books with illustrations, you might be a fan of graphic novels. Dr. Lee Francis, the Chief IndigiNerd at the Indigenous Imagination Workshop writes and publishes graphic novels himself, and he teaches us what a graphic novel is, how they are created, and what topics they might cover.
The Kids Crew are surprised to learn that graphic novels can also be nonfiction. For indigenous authors, graphic novels are a new form of storytelling to share traditional and historic stories to new generations of readers.
Graphic Novels for Kids
There are many graphic novels for kids of all ages, including the Captain Underpants books, The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, among others.
Our guest Dr. Lee Francis IV is also a publisher, whose company features indigenous artists, authors and themes. His free book Ghost River: : The Fall and Rise of the Conestoga uses the graphic novel format to teach kids the history what happened to the Conestoga people after European Colonization.
Many kids find reading graphic novels more compelling than traditional books. What is your favorite graphic novel?
We then meet Rachel Ignotofsky. She’s a science illustrator and author of many books for kids and adults. Her science series for kids uses graphics to illustrate a wide range of topics. These graphics help children and adults visualize the data and facts the books are teaching, and are beautiful at the same time.
Thorfin brings us a review of a book published by Lee Francis called Saga Sky by Roy Boney. This graphic novel gets high marks from Thorfin.
We also hear Max’s review of the graphic novel by RL Stine called The Graveyard Club. While these are a little scary, these books help tell spooky stories with compelling illustrations.
We want to know: do you like graphic novels? Send us an email, or leave us a voicemail and let us know what you’re reading these days.
This episode was written and produced by Katie Stone, with production help from Ameeta Ganatra, Jacqui Fulton, and Christina Stella. Thaniel Lentz is our intern. The Children’s Hour is distributed by Native Voice One: The Native American Radio Network.
© 2024 The Children’s Hour Inc. All rights reserved.
Listen to The Children’s Hour anytime at ChildrensHour.org.
Please note: not all songs we play can be found in Spotify.
Playlist: Graphic Novels
| title | artist | album |
|---|---|---|
| Imma Force (feat. Mumu Fresh) | Divinity Roxx & Divi Roxx Kids | World Wide Playdate |
| Every Book I Read | Turtle Dance Music | It's Gonna Be a Good Day |
| Ode to a Superhero (Parody of 'Piano Man' By Billy Joel) | 'Weird Al' Yankovic | Poodle Hat |
| Kettled | Blue Dot Sessions | Comptroller |
| Superheroes (feat. Dean Jones) | Claudia Robin Gunn | Firefly (feat. Dean Jones) |
| Never Give Up (feat. Quese Imc & Supaman) | Artson | E.A.R.T.H. - EP |
| Mighty Mouse | Black Lodge | Kids' Pow-Wow Songs |
| Superhero | Claire Ness & The Swing Sets | Broccoli Farm |
| On Top of It | Blue Dot Sessions | Moon Juice |
| Go Big | Andy Sturmer | Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Original Soundtrack) |
| The Books I Like to Read | The Hipwaders | The Books I Like to Read / Sesame Street Theme - Single |
| Gymnopedie No. 1 | Gabriel Ayala | Portraits |
| Superhero | Nimo & Daniel Nahmod | Superhero - Single |
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