Graphic Novels and State Standards

[Maureen Bakis]

I just finished writing an article for Diamond Bookshelf Magazine about how graphic novels meet the text complexity standards in the Common Core State Standards for ELA and Literacy. When I first wrote my graphic novel curriculum, graphic novels were not listed on the suggested texts in the 2001 Massachusetts State Standards document, but lo and behold, they are now! Even if they weren't listed, you can still easily justify their use. It's so great now that we don't need to fight to get graphic novels into the curriculum anymore. Or do we?