Graphic Novel Night

With the popularity of graphic novels at our library, we decided to devote an evening program to them. So, last night was Graphic Novel Night. We had three main activities.

1. Vote for your favorite graphic novel series.
    I had cover art from six of our most popular graphic novel series out on a table. Kids put a poker chip on their favorite cover.

2. Book talk of some lesser known and sadly under appreciated graphic novels.
    I pulled about 15 less popular graphic novels (including 1 manga) and 2 new graphic novels and did a quick pitch for why they should read each book.


3. Make your own graphic novel
    This was probably the longest portion of the program. After a quick talk about the steps to making comics and an explanation of the Marvel method, I set them loose to draw whatever they wanted. The cool part of this portion was the conversation that came up. The kids recommended graphic novels that we don't own and I had a great talk with a manga fan. Since I don't read much manga myself, I learned a lot from her. She recommended several series she thought I might like. I did the same for her with American graphic novels and traditional print novels.