For the Love of Graphic Novels: A Roundtable on Inclusive Stories

Webinar

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Every student should see themselves in the curriculum and in the books they read. As librarians and gatekeepers of the school library space, we want our community to feel that the resources we curate speak to them in meaningful ways and make them feel included in the human story. How do we do this? Enter the graphic novel.

This roundtable brings four distinct perspectives on graphic novels to explore how this unique form of storytelling can be transformative for students and educators. Albany High School librarian and graphic novel champion Alicia Abdul creates the ultimate team-up when she sits down with Squire (HarperCollins 2022) co-creators Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas and professor of comics studies and children's/YA lit, Dr. Gwen Athene Tarbox. Together they join their comic superpowers to discuss how the specifics of this genre can foster equity in the community, provide insights into the creative process of writing and illustrating inclusive stories, and explore ideas on how to promote graphic novels in the school community.

Watch the webinar to learn more about:

The many benefits of graphic novels to the curriculum, including visual literacy and inclusivity
The elements that help representation and authenticity shine through in contemporary comics for young people
How librarians can maximize and diversify their graphic novel collections and come away with title recommendations that you can add to your collection

About the Presenters

Alicia Abdul, MLIS, has worked as a public high school librarian in Albany, NY, since 2007. She currently reviews for several library magazines and facilitates a regional Young Adult Book Group, and she has served on YALSA's Great Graphic Novels for Teens and Best Fiction for Young Adults committees, in addition to the William C. Morris Award Committee. She blogs on Wordpress at http://readersbeadvised.wordpress.com and contributes to a books blog for the Albany Times Union newspaper.

Sara Alfageeh is a Jordanian American illustrator and creative director in San Francisco. She's passionate about history, nuances in visual storytelling, and the spaces where art and identity intersect. She's known for her work for Marvel Comics, Star Wars, and children's publishing. While that's cool and all, she really just wants to draw girls with swords. Visit her online at www.sara-alfa.com.

Nadia Shammas is an Arab-American writer born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She is best known for being the writer and co-creator of SQUIRE, a YA Middle Eastern fantasy graphic novel (HarperCollins 2022), with Sara Alfageeh. She's also the creator and curator of CORPUS: A Comic Anthology of Bodily Ailments.

Dr. Gwen Athene Tarbox is a professor in the Department of English at Western Michigan University, where she teaches comics studies, children's and YA literature, and American popular culture. Her monograph, Children's and YA Comics, was released by Blooomsbury Academic in 2020, and she has co-edited, with Dr. Michelle Ann Abate, Graphic Novels for Children and Young Adults: A Collection of Critical Essays (University of Mississippi Press, 2017). Currently, Dr. Tarbox is writing a monograph on contemporary middle grade comics.

MLA Citation

Abdul, Alicia, Sara Alfageeh, Nadia Shammas, and Gwen Athene Tarbox. "For the Love of Graphic Novels: A Roundtable on Inclusive Stories." School Library Connection, July 2022, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Webinar?LearningModuleId=2284475&topicCenterId=2247902.

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https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Webinar?LearningModuleId=2284475&topicCenterId=2247902

Entry ID: 2284475