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EL212: Children's Literature

Recommended titles by Genre at the Mitchell College Library

Graphic Novels for Early Readers

Graphic Novels for Advanced Readers

"There are all sorts of picture books. There is a place for them all."

- Charlotte Zolotow
in Making Picture Books: The Words

Graphic Novel or Picture Book?

There is no hard and fast rule to distinguish a graphic novel from a picture book. However, there are several features that are often found in graphic novels:

  • Paneled layouts
  • Visual text features (word balloons, captions, thought bubbles)
  • Illustrations that convey details essential to the meaning of the story

Sometimes picture books also include these features so a book might fall into more than one category.  Read more about the subtlties of graphic novels in this Horn Book article.