"Considers graphic narratives for and about children to interrogate how these narratives contest images of childhood victimization and helplessness and present young people as social actors who attempt to make sense of the challenges that affect them"--
In Growing Up Graphic, Alison Halsall considers graphic texts for young readers to interrogate how they help children develop new ideas about social justice and become potential agents of change. With a focus on comics that depict difficult experiences affecting young people, Halsall explores the complexities of queer graphic memoirs, narratives of belonging, depictions of illness and disability, and explorations of Indigenous experiences. She discusses, among others, Child Soldier by Jessica Dee Humphreys and Michel Chikwanine, War Brothers by Sharon E. McKay, Baddawi by Leila Abdelrazaq, Matt Huynhs interactive adaptation of Nam Les The Boat, and David Alexander Robertsons 7 Generations. These examples contest images of childhood victimization, passivity, and helplessness, instead presenting young people as social actors who attempt to make sense of the challenges that affect them. In considering comics for children and about children, Growing Up Graphic centers a previously underexplored vein of graphic narratives and argues that these texts offer important insights into the interests and capabilities of children as readers.
Interrogates how diverse graphic texts for children contest images of childhood victimization and helplessness and help young readers develop ideas about social justice.
