Graphic novels helping young people dive into reading in local libraries

If you ask most people, even avid readers, what their favorite graphic novel is, they might struggle to name anything. In fact, many people might not even know what a graphic novel is. Yet, this genre of literature is one of the highest growth categories in the book marketplace. Unsurprisingly, both the Clarion Public Library and the Belmond Public Library are also seeing a boom in graphic novel popularity.

            As noted, many readers might wonder what exactly a graphic novel is. Missy Hansen, the Children’s Librarian at the Clarion Public Library explains that it essentially a book-length comic, with writing and drawings. Amy Bates, the Children’s Librarian at the Belmond Public Library, further notes that while a graphic novel might look like a comic book because it is fully illustrated in panels, they are more “book-like” than a comic with a “whole storyline and a beginning, middle and end.”

For the full story, see the October 11th edition of the Monitor