CI1904: Picturebooks and Graphic Novels

This course will explore two formats of contemporary children's literature, picturebooks and graphic novels, as especially conducive to the development of young people's visual literacy. In a multimedia world, where the image has become a major tool of communication, visual literacy has become more relevant than ever before. This awareness is reflected in the meteoric rise of picturebooks and graphic novels - two key formats of sequential art, which we'll examine for their similarities and differences, their uses, and contemporary significance. Our focus will be on the image/word interaction, the complexity of pictorial reading/storytelling, the thematic scope and artistic techniques, and the historical overview of different approaches to visual narratives around the world. You'll be expected to read a variety of global and multicultural picturebooks and graphic novels accompanied by critical and theoretical readings. To facilitate your practical understanding of visual narratives you?ll complete several written assignments, including producing, analyzing, and revising a picture project and sequential art project. Working in groups, you'll present the results of research into picturebooks and graphic novels within your own area of interest. The structure of class discussions and projects will help you become an active thinker about complexity, diversity, and change in the global world as well as within the field of children's and young adult literature.

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