Before beginning the book, I knew I would dislike it. And, after forcing myself to read the whole thing, I can say that I do not have an interest in graphic novels. I think the history aspect added to my dislike, but I probably would not have liked the other option much more. Thinking about how I started the book with a poor outlook, then how I forced myself to chunk the pages in order to get through the book, and then I rewarded myself when complete with the "assigned" section, I feel like a struggling student. My students are not excited to read a book even before hearing what it is about. Maybe, if I would not have had such a poor outlook on the book beforehand, I would not have disliked it as much. This reminds me of the importance of finding books that students are interested in. If there is an assigned book that a class absolutely has to read, prereading activities to aid in interest and comprehension are crucial. They probably would have helped me connect with this text a bit.
I choose this book over the Poppies book because I thought I would be able to learn a bit about history. I have never been good with dates, people, events, etc. I know the big ideas of our history, but the rest has never really stuck. I think this book would be good for someone who knows this story line already. The book covered a lot of content in a short amount of time, I found myself google-ing events and such to get more information in order to move forward with the text. Even with doing this, my comprehension of this text was low. I doubt I would pass the AR reading quiz for this book! While I love the idea of using a graphic novel to teach history rather than a textbook, I do not think this is the book.
I have many students who choose to read graphic novels for their SSR book. I am happy to support them in whatever reading style they are interested in. However, they are not for me!
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