The Pedagogy, Perils and Pitfalls of Graphic Novel in the Classroom

Here, I share my own experiences using graphic novels (e.g. Gonick’s Cartoon History, Rea’s Perpetua’s Journey) in the classroom—either as the main textbook or one of several, and in both upper- and lower-level classes. What are the gains in student engagement and how do we capitalize on them? What do we lose in quantity of content? What next?