Ghost Boys: Graphic Novel adaptation

 

Rating: 4 for reaching readers in a multimodal world

My Thoughts: 

This story, by Jewell Parker Rhodes navigates a healing journey to police brutality and young, black bodies being gunned down in the streets. The opening scene is Jerome, face down on the road, blood coming out, dead, alone, just a police officer standing over him and his toy gun. 

Jerome speaks to us as a ghost, and he is witness to his family’s suffering and anger. He is also visited by a ghost boy (Emmet Till) and eventually other young ghost boys who were similarly killed. Emmett helps Jerome make sense of the racism and white fear that continues to see young black boys as dangerous and feared.

In addition, the daughter of the officer that shot Jerome (still living) can also see Jerome. Through her, the readers see a different perspective of the officer, especially when even his daughter questions his decision making after seeing the video. 

This story, as a graphic novel is immediate and visceral. Words are sparse and important. The graphics bring life to the characters and tell a story that needs to be remembered. We are not thriving as a society and this is a reminder of that fact. 

From the Publisher:

Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation that is unleashed on his family and community in the wake of this unjust and brutal killing.

Soon Jerome meets another ghost: Emmett Till, a boy from a very different time but similar circumstances. Emmett helps Jerome process what has happened, on a journey toward recognizing how historical racism may have led to the events that ended his life. Jerome also meets Sarah, the daughter of the police officer who shot him, as she grapples with her father's actions.

Now gorgeously a graphic novel with gripping artwork from Black Panther illustrator Setor Fiadzigbey, Ghost Boys once again deftly explores the historical and sociopolitical layers involved in how children and families face the complexities of today’s world—and how one boy, in particular, comes to understand American Blackness in the aftermath of his own death.

Publication Information:

Author: Jewell Parker Rhodes

Illustrator: Setor Fiadzigbey

Publisher: Little, Brown, Ink (December 2, 2025)

Print length: 264 pages

Cormac McCarthy's The Road: a Graphic Novel Adaptation

 

My Thoughts:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a dystopian adult novel about a father and his son who are in a post apocalyptic world where they are trying to survive, stay away from hordes of Zombie-like gangs and not die in the process. This novel was so difficult to get through and so disturbing that I talked my husband into reading the book with me. He tried and then refused to finish it. I was disturbed by the struggle. I almost with there were Zombies as they would be less scary than gangs of desperate and starving human beings. For my husband, he could not get over McCarthy's writing style. His big beef was on the author's use of 50 words in a sentence to say something that could be written much simpler with the same effect. It was just too wordy for him and this road was dragging on too long so he abandoned it.  I slogged through because I needed to get to the end of the road, or death, or whatever came first, but I was not having fun slogging through. I also want to say that Cormac McCarthy died last summer (June 2023) at 89, so I am not trying to speak ill of this American author who has garnered multiple writing awards, however, his outlook on America and humanity is dark, dark, dark, so I am not saying anything new. 

What I wanted to focus on is not the tone of his story, but on the issue my husband has, which is McCarthy's prose style which is just difficult to read. He does not write for the common man/woman. He does not have much wit to him. His vocabulary tends to be pedantic. So if you take away the prose and stick with the tone and premise of a father and son trying to get to the coast in a post apocalyptic world, as readers we are faced with a more familiar story of survival and the ability of the young son to keep his humanity while the father tries to protect him from seeing the horrors that will stick in his memory. 

Manu Larcenet does a fabulous job of keeping the feeling of cold, hunger and sorrow within his illustrations. He does not need a lot of words to tell this story. However, the conversations that he does include in the book gives us just enough horror and hope. Job well done! The Road in this adaptation is just as haunting as the original, but I would use this adaptation over the original for a literature group choice if we are looking at dystopia or post apocalyptic pieces caused by climate change, natural disasters, or man made disasters.

Suggestions for Curriculum and Classroom Use:

Thematic Currents:

• Death in a Dying World
• Humanity and Ethics
• Philosophy of Survival
• Parent/Child or Father/Son relationships
• Survival

Activity:

• Literature workshop on dystopia - if you are not sure how to do a literature workshop in a secondary classroom, this blog post is not enough time to go over it. I would need a whole semester of an English methods course to even introduce it, however, Sheridan Blau has a great book called The Literature Workshop by Heinemann Publishers. Check that out and choose something to try. I trust this publisher as they print books by teacher practitioners rather than education scholars who have not set foot in a K-12 classroom in many years. Chapter 2 is about the power of rereading. Although they use a poem, imaging doing a rereading of some key scenes of this graphic novel so that students "read" the illustrations and sparse text to have students go through the process and also record their understanding as they reread

• Other books that can be paired with this graphic novel:
• Life as We Knew It series by Susan Beth Pfeffer
• Hiroshima by John Hersey
• Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakagawa (graphic by an atomic bomb survivor)

Publication Information:

Illustrator: Manu Larcenet

Publisher: Abrams ComicArts (September 17, 2024)

Hardcover: 160 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1419776779

Reading Age: 13 years and up

Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults

 

My Thoughts:

Like How to be a (Young) Antiracist, this non fiction, indigenous perspective adaptation  of the adult book is meant to be more palatable to young adults. The difference is that I have read and wrote about the original Braiding Sweetgrass. The connections between storytelling and indigenous truth telling through botanic metaphor in the original book is so powerful that for me, the adaptation was too watered down. The teachings were filtered through someone else rather than through my own indigenous transaction with Kimmerer's text. 

I believe this is a well meaning way to open the door for our middle grade students, but I would also encourage high school teachers in science and language arts to use the stories from the adult book in their classroom. Kimmerer is a born storyteller. The power of the transaction between reader and author is difficult to adapt down. Long after I read the original I continued to find random notes around the house with page numbers and thoughts. That is the power of transactional reading.

p. 159

A theory, to scientists, means something rather different from its popular use, which suggests something speculative or untested. Grounded theory – in [is?] the traditional ecological knowledge of indigenous peoples. If we use a plant respectfully, it will flourish. If we ignore it, it will go away. When you pick the flower for a lei, for example, the tree will produce more flowers. A tree where the flowers are not picked and valued seems to eventually disappear.

p. 134

The most important thing each of us can know is our unique gift and how to use it in the world. Individuality is cherished and nurtured, because, in order for the whole to flourish, each of us has to be strong in the who we are and carry our gifts with conviction, so they can be shared with others. In reciprocity, we fill our spirits as well as our bellies.

p. 104

We are showered every day with gifts, but they are not meant for us to keep. Their life is in their movement, the inhale and exhale of our shared breath. Our work and our joy is to pass along the gift and to trust that what we put out into the universe always comes back.

p. 174

Political action , civic engagement – these are powerful acts of reciprocity with the land. The Maple Nation Bill of Responsibilities asks us to stand up for The Standing People, to lead with the wisdom of Maples.

p. 179

Not everything should be convenient. [The difficulty of digging is an important constraint]

From the Publisher:

Drawing from her experiences as an Indigenous scientist, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer demonstrated how all living things―from strawberries and witch hazel to water lilies and lichen―provide us with gifts and lessons every day in her best-selling book Braiding Sweetgrass. Adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith, this new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth’s oldest teachers: the plants around us. With informative sidebars, reflection questions, and art from illustrator Nicole Neidhardt, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults brings Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the lessons of plant life to a new generation.

Publication information:

Author: Robin Kimmerer; adapted by Monique Gray Smith

Illustrator: Nicole Neidhardt

Publisher: Zest Books

Publication date: November 1, 2022

Fangirl Manga, Vol. 2

 

My Thoughts:

This is supposedly a novel that was adapted from the novel by  Rainbow Rowell (Pumpkinheads), and according to the other reviewers, this is accurate to the book, so if you have already read Fangirl, in this manga volume 2, just forget that you know what is going to happen.

I, on the other hand, have not read the novel and instead picked it up because 1) manga and 2) Rainbow Rowell.  Like Pumpkinheads, the relationships between people, for example Cath and her twin sister Wren. are complicated and parts of it must inevitably come to an end. Wren has moved on and recreated herself separate from high school and family relationships. 

It seems like Cath cannot grow up or grow away from her fan fiction writing persona, even in college.Despite getting harsh feedback from her writing professor that fan fiction is not real writing, with Nick and Levi, perhaps she can grow out of her shell. 

I purposely put manga on the title because the art is spectacular and uses the manga genre to support the story.   I appreciate such a beautiful adaptation. Even if I did not read the original, with the story and the art, I donʻt feel like I'm missing anything.

From the Publisher:

Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, everybody is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath just can’t let go…

Cath just wants to hang out with her twin sister and write fanfiction. But now that they’re in college, her sister doesn’t have time for her. And life keeps pulling Cath further and further out of her shell. For the first time ever, Cath has her own social circle. There’s Nick, her handsome classmate who wants her to write short stories with him… And then Levi, who keeps showing up when she isn’t looking for him…

Actually…maybe Cath’s circle is more of a triangle?

Title: Fangirl, Vol. 2 Manga

Author:  Rainbow Rowell (original author); Sam Maggs (adapter); Gabi Nam (illustrator)

Publisher: Viz Media

Publication date: June 14, 2022

 

The Great Gatsby: A Graphic Novel Adaptation

 

My Thoughts:

This adaptation by K. Woodman-Maynard tries to capture the tone and frenetic rhythm of the Fitzgerald original through the use of watercolor scenes of opulence, decadence and mystery. The party scenes at Jay's mansion, that desperate spider web attempt to lure Daisy in, parallel with the way Myrtle holds court in the apartment that she and Tom use in the city in some garish dance of "putting on the ritz" that holds no intimacy or humanity." 

In order to try and adapt this classic for a contemporary audience, Woodman-Maynard picks and chooses some of the most iconic quotes to use in the adaptation like Daisy's, "I hope she'll be a fool--that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." as well as Nick's final, "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Perhaps the most striking part of this graphic novel is that as the narrator, Nick's comments and opinions are woven onto the scenery as if they are concrete poems that act as curtains or waves. 

Although this novel adaptation is better used as a "second reading" of Gatsby, it is still a good way to start some of the many discussions possible around this piece of literature even if it does not get into some of the more contemporary lenses of this classic that English teachers are now discussing (like the LGBTQ lens). What Woodman-Maynard chooses to use and what is not used is another conversation piece with classes. Perhaps more graphic readers will have a leg up on the conversation, and if so, this is a good source of bridging material for these types of learners. 

From the Publisher:

From the green light across the bay to the billboard with spectacled eyes, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 American masterpiece roars to life in K. Woodman-Maynard’s exquisite graphic novel—among the first adaptations of the book in this genre. Painted in lush watercolors, the inventive interpretation emphasizes both the extravagance and mystery of the characters, as well as the fluidity of Nick Carraway’s unreliable narration. Excerpts from the original text wend through the illustrations, and imagery and metaphors are taken to literal, and often whimsical, extremes, such as when a beautiful partygoer blooms into an orchid and Daisy Buchanan pushes Gatsby across the sky on a cloud.

This faithful yet modern adaptation will appeal to fans with deep knowledge of the classic, while the graphic novel format makes it an ideal teaching tool to engage students. With its timeless critique of class, power, and obsession, The Great Gatsby Graphic Novel captures the energy of an era and the enduring resonance of one of the world’s most beloved books.