5 Reasons to Use Comics Plus With Your School-Wide Programming

George Purdu, Library Director at Wyandotte Public Schools (Michigan) presented on “School Wide Approach to Using Graphic Novels” for our “Comics & Manga Programming in Schools and Libraries” webinar at LibraryCon 2024. We’re spotlighting our key takeaways here for those who prefer reading over video or audio, but the full webinar is also embedded below.

George Purdu is the Library Director for Wyandotte Public Schools in the Detroit, Michigan area. After 11 years as a middle and high school Social Studies teacher, George ventured into library sciences and now works with the four elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school in his district to integrate comics and manga with traditional reading materials.

Thanks to his own appreciation for the medium, George set out to establish a school-wide reading program that included comics across the elementary, middle, and high schools in early 2024.

What spurred this large-scale initiative? With 7 years of experience as a media specialist and two years as a technology coach in the district, George was keen to help his students tap into digitally accessible content. He had found that the most requested materials at all levels throughout his district were comics and graphic novels, and that trend had increased since adding Comics Plus in 2024.

To leverage that momentum, George decided to work with teaching staff across the district to embed graphic novels into the curriculum while continuing to drive awareness of Comics Plus directly to students. His knowledge as a former Social Studies teacher and his position as library director were both instrumental in seeing the school-wide programming come to fruition.

We’re highlighting the reasons George used for going all in with integrating graphic novels into Wyandotte’s school-wide programming.

Reason 1: Background knowledge matters

George Purdu’s time as a Social Studies teacher meant that he had first-hand experience teaching history and other topics to various age groups and skill levels. Initially, Comics Plus was instrumental in helping an existing Comics Club at one school in the district, Roosevelt High School.

“Students [were] creating lists of materials that they [wanted] to read. They [were] choosing a lot of those items and we [were] able to do club reads that way with what we have available from Comics Plus,” George explains.

With his knowledge of what active student programming at set grade levels was like, and the engagement from students at Roosevelt’s Comics Club — a student organization established in 2015 — George saw a gap that could be bridged to allow teaching staff to embrace comics and graphic novels as effective educational tools for their students.

“[Comics Plus] is one of our highest circulated materials that we have… Some of the things that students bring to the table, as far as what they have an interest in, has been really important in curating our collections [as well],” George acknowledges.

Reason 2: Supplemental is important, too

For elementary school readers, George recognized that context and reading comprehension levels would be a factor for all teachers if they were to use graphic novels in their classrooms, so he worked with them to determine the most relevant use cases to meet their needs.

Graphic nonfiction can be used in place of, or to supplement, traditional texts, and George knew that titles like ABDO’s George Washington and Jackie Robinson would be especially helpful for biography projects at the elementary level. It was also important to have a variety of biographies for students to choose from, and Comics Plus has hundreds of graphic biographies that are available with unlimited, simultaneous access.

“Our fifth grade level students are required to read a biography and what they’re using now are biographies that are available to them digitally,” George states.

For example, students who were assigned to read a biography on Jackie Robinson were able to do so online and during class time because of Comics Plus’ simultaneous access model.

Reason 3: Student engagement is the goal

For middle school readers, George had to up the ante a little bit to help teachers feel confident their students would be engaged and willingly lean into the assigned reading materials. Along with graphic novels being embedded in English Language Arts (ELA) classes for 8th graders using Frankenstein, and a “Battle of the Books” competition included graphic novels to get students more excited.

With Frankenstein (ABDO), George and the teaching staff found that those who read the graphic adaptation were better able to process the information and complete classwork when compared to those who read the original novel instead.

“The ability to decode has been better for students, so we’re seeing that incorporating these into the curriculum at basically all three of our sixth, seventh, and eighth grade levels — the students are understanding the information at a much better rate than when we were doing a lot of things in print form, in regular novel form,” George explains.

The “Battle of the Books” competition used four graphic novels based on input from students and teachers, including The Fall of the House of Usher (Capstone), with all 8th graders in the district. George was surprised by how many graphic novels the students wanted to include. The expectation was they would only be interested in a couple, however, four out of the 10 titles ended up being graphic novels — two chosen by the students, and the other two by the teaching staff.

“The fact that they can go from one to the other without having to come down [to the library] and wonder if the other titles are available, I think that’s going to be something that’s going to be a better avenue for our students,” George states.

Reason 4: Solid choice for diverse learning

For high school readers, George and the teaching staff for Special Education at Roosevelt High School saw a win-win solution with graphic adaptations. They were able to select and use The Count of Monte Cristo (Classics Illustrated) for lessons on classic literature. By using this adaptation, the students were able to understand and process the classic story better than when they read the original novel.

The opportunity to use graphic novels to support diverse learning styles didn’t only apply to special education programs and literary classics; it supports diverse interests, too.

“Our Comics Club that we’ve had now for close to 8 years, they feel like they have a wide variety of choices. They have a committee that sits down and looks at what the options are when they meet up, they go through their choices with the fellow club members, and they decide on one. Then they go and read it. The students [have] that voice,” George explains.

Each month the students selected a different title to be read by the club.

George’s success with graphic novels in Wyandotte Public Schools proves there are multiple use cases for bringing comics and manga into the classroom. From helping students engage with classic literature to giving student-run clubs access to materials that align with school curriculum in a fun and engaging way — graphic novels can play an effective role in educational settings.

Reason 5: Great cost savings on materials

By developing and implementing a school-wide reading program using age-appropriate graphic novels across his school district, George was able to showcase their value to students and teachers. This would not have been possible with print materials or traditional ebook licensing models. With Comics Plus, our unlimited, simultaneous access model afforded depth and flexibility for students and teachers at every grade level at Wyandotte Public Schools.

Budgeting is always an important factor for any school system and/or district, and with a student population of 4,500, Wyandotte Public Schools saw significant cost savings by offering Comics Plus throughout the district.

“The cost savings on this has been huge. It was one of the things when I first came onboard and looked at the budgets that I had [prioritized]. Seeing what options are available for our students, [Comics Plus] has made it one of the more valuable resources for our students,” George states.

What can you achieve with your readers by bringing comics and graphic novels into your school-wide programming?

Program All The Comics!

With Comics Plus, librarians can support school-wide reading programs like Wyandotte Public Schools without having to worry about holds, wait lists, or borrowing limits. Thousands of comics and manga are available for readers of all ages — with unlimited, simultaneous access for all.

**Learn more about Comics Plus and our valuable resources, including the Comic & Manga Book Club Guide.**

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Comics & Manga Programming in Schools and Libraries | LibraryCon 2024