Engaging Middle-Grades Readers Through Graphic Nonfiction Trade Books: A Critical Perspective on Selected Titles Recommended for Classroom Use

This article offers a critical perspective on selection and use of graphic nonfiction from diverse perspectives that provides opportunities to engage readers in aesthetic transactions. In a recent article (Moller, 2015), I analyzed three graphic nonfiction educational product series, offering models to support evaluation and selection for use with students. My intent was to demonstrate the possibilities for integrating attention to aesthetic appreciation, critical reflection, and content information across multiple formats and texts to promote authentic engagement and learning opportunities. In this article, I extend my previous exploration into nonfiction graphic literature, first by reviewing recent ecommendations in a published guide (Herald, 2011) and then by examining a selection of additional graphic nonfiction trade books that might encourage students, as Rosenblatt (1994) hoped, to develop such an “integrated sensibility” (p. 46) and “to participate as fully as possible in the potentialities of the text” (p. 69).