Graphic novels have started to harness the power of the comedy duo and use it to great effect in recent years. You can walk into classrooms across the country and children will be familiar with Mango & Brash, Bumble and Snug, Narwhal and Jelly, Bird and Squirrel and now they’ll be desperate to add Peng and Spanners to the list. A sarcastic penguin and a cat who struggles with his vocabulary are not necessarily the first options you may have expected but let me assure you they work perfectly together. Despite seeming almost too opposite to each other, Peng and Spanners work in perfect harmo ..read more

It’s been a long time since I wrote about the work we’re doing at school using comics and graphic novels, but that is nothing to do with a lack of quality or effort. Some of the things we have been doing are things I’ve written about before, so it seemed unwise to waste everyone’s time writing about it again. However, in graphic novel club we have been experimenting with some new ideas and activities, which have paid huge dividends. So, my intention is purely to tell you about the amazing work by the children (I am purely a body in the room, they are all far more talented than I am!) and it ma ..read more

Recently, I was very lucky to get a copy of Drawn to Change The World by Emma Reynolds and it didn’t take long for me to realise that this is one of those books that needs to be in every primary and secondary school in the country. The book is a collection of 16 stories that have been drawn by 16 artists, each in their own individual style. In the past, I have found books with changing art styles tricky to read as fluently, some of my favourite collections have issues from guest artists that just make me long for the normal artist, but this collection uses the approach to excellent effect. Hav ..read more

If you haven’t already heard about it, Meesh the Bad Demon is a new graphic novel from Michelle Lam that is the first in the series. The book was released last week and I have no doubt it is going to be a very popular choice in KS2 classrooms. Despite being almost 300 pages, I think there will be plenty of children in LKS2 that will adore Meesh and her first adventure. The artwork is enticing and there is plenty of action throughout to keep the story moving at a breakneck speed. For my stop on the tour I am going to explore how you can use the book on your classroom to support teaching. If you ..read more

The Hilda series is back with a new entry that will make the perfect companion to all of her previous adventures. Instead of releasing a new adventure, this book is a guide to all of the different beasts and spirits that exist in the world of Hilda. For devoted fans it is a beautiful love letter to the various creatures that reside in Trolberg and the surrounding areas, but if you are new to the series it is an excellent introduction to the fascinating and magical world. Ever since the book touched my desk, I have had children repeatedly staring in wonder and begging to read it. Much like the ..read more

Despite it nearly being the end of term, we have been working frantically through some of our curriculum lessons this week, in a bid to catch up and ensure that the class have been taught about more than just Henry VIII during our Tudor topic. After looking at the relationship between Elizabeth and Mary during our work on Tuesday, it was time to cover the Spanish Armada on Wednesday. I won’t lie, I knew that somebody else had already planned and resourced the lesson, so I had ignored it until about 9:05, when the class were in assembly. After looking through the lesson, I could see that the su ..read more

This week, we had an open evening for prospective year 3 parents. As part of the evening, each class was running activities with a small group of children and then the people walking around could see some of the work we do and also had the chance to join in if they wanted to. Somebody kindly volunteered me to run a graphic novel activity and show how they can be used to support learning. Initially, I thought about going down the art route but felt like I should use the chance to do something a little bit more thought provoking and focus on how the texts can support learning in all areas of the ..read more

I was first made aware of Dekko comics back in September, initially I was unsure how I felt about the concept of an educational comic. On the one hand, they are everything I want, my favourite format trying to help readers gain a greater understanding of a concept. On the other hand, it could be my favourite format possibly falling into the trap of trying to make learning “cool” or act like it wasn’t trying to teach, a bit like the uncle who wants you to think of him as a mate instead of a family member. Thankfully, my fears were completely suppressed when I laid my eyes on the comics Dekko se ..read more

This year I was given the duty of preparing World Book Day for the school. Initially, I was trying to think of how I could show that I wasn’t just a one trick pony or trying to force graphic novels on everyone. However, everyone else had other ideas and requested that I did a graphic novel focus because lots of children were enjoying them but they weren’t sure how to engage this interest. Before they could change their mind, I was scheming away on how to make sure everyone had a good experience, no matter how familiar or confident their teacher was with using graphic novels. After scouring my ..read more

Over the past term we have been learning about World War One and our English work has all been based on the superb novel Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. Ordinarily, I would use a graphic novel or comic to help children improve their writing and look at how can we expand on detail or structure. However this week I decided to work the opposite way. We used Private Peaceful as inspiration to create our own comic strips based on being stuck in the trenches. Instead of writing long flowing paragraphs about the atrocities of war the children were tasked with communicating how horrendous they w ..read more