Black-Eyed Susan Graphic Novels

This is the second year of our Black-Eyed Susan Graphic Novel club.  It was a bit of an experiment last year, but has proved to be popular and participation almost doubled this year.  One thing I struggle with is making this club different from the chapter book club.  We meet more often -- every other week from February through April.  The boys read the graphic novels quickly and exchange books at a rapid rate.  Many of the boys are able to read all 10 of the nominated books.

Instead of having a pizza voting session as our culminating activity, the GN boys have lunch in the library with a chocolate fountain for dessert.  This is a big hit.  The club has grown in size such that I had two fountains running and we still found ourselves short on time.  I'll have to rethink this next year, especially if this club continues to grow.

Just as in the chapter book club our boys are passionate about the books.  In addition to discussing the story, they are also articulate and well spoken about the art in the books.  I had to cut some of the discussions short in order to be sure that we had enough time for the chocolate fountains.

As I have mentioned before in this blog, I am a reluctant convert to graphic novels, but this year's GN selections seemed especially excellent even to my neophyte eyes.  Our school's overwhelming favorite was Cat's Cradle: The Golden Twine by Jo Rioux.  This was a surprise to me, mostly because at first glance one would consider this a "girl" book.  The main character is a girl and she is featured prominently on the cover.  This book got the most votes by a landslide, which goes to show that a good book is a good book!!!  The statewide winner will be announced on May 2.