Welcome to March and the third reading prompt of our 2024 Read with MLC challenge: read a work of graphic nonfiction. Nonfiction comics have been around for longer than you might think. Thomas Nast, who created political cartoons, started drawing as a teen in 1856. The Republican elephant was one of the artistic brainchildren of his decades-long career. He brought other popular figures to the forefront of American consciousness, figures just as beloved and enduring as, say, Superman, like the Democratic donkey, Uncle Sam, and Santa Claus. Robert Ripley and his Ripley's Believe It or Not franchise started in 1918 as a single panel comic and grew to encompass a wealth of researchers to back up his claims. There are many more examples, here in America and across the world. While fiction comics dominate the reading landscape, there is a wide world of graphic nonfiction available that has literally exploded onto our reading shelves. If you have a thirst for knowledge and a love of art, this may be the perfect type of book for you.
So... Just what is available out there? I scanned our shelves for some of our top graphic reads and found some in an array of subject areas that are sure to tickle your nonfiction reading taste buds.
Biography
There are a ton of great graphic biographies and memoirs, with more hitting the shelves every year. One of the more recent additions to MLC's collection is When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers. In the 1930s, an anonymous writing competition was held in the Jewish diaspora of Europe among 13-21 year olds. The winner was set to be announced September 1, 1939, which was, coincidentally, the same day the Nazis invaded Poland. Secreted away from first the Nazis and then later the Communists, the entries were lost until 1917. Artist Ken Krimstein, who works for The New Yorker and other publications, has captured the vivacity, life, and ambitions of these ordinary young people whose lives were altered and cut short by fascism.
History
Graphic novels track the full gamut of history, from the dawn of civilization through the modern day. The Middle Ages: A Graphic Guide by Eleanor Janega and Neil Max Emmanuel examines the time period between the collapse of the Roman empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the 14th and 15th centuries. Interestingly, this graphic novel not only looks at how people lived during this time, but also checks in on some of the people more often erased from history: women, Jews, the sick, and more.
Science
Two Heads: A Graphic Exploration of How Our Brains Work with Other Brains by Uta Frith, Chris Frith, Alex Frith, and Daniel Locke takes a deep look at, well, brains. There are graphic novels covering a wide range of scientific study, and this recent offering by husband and wife team Uta and Chris Frith delves into the fascinating field of neuroscience. Two Heads gives an overview of how brains work, but it also looks at areas of special interest, like autism and schizophrenia.
Music
Do you know the song "Come and Get Your Love"? (Come on. It was heavily featured in Guardians of the Galaxy. You know you love that song.) That's the big hit of Redbone, a 60s band that played with the Beach Boys and influenced Jimi Hendrix. Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band by Christian Staebler, Sonia Paoloni, and Thibault Balahy examines the band's place in rock and roll history and American history as a whole, including the American Indian Movement.
Adaptations
There are oh, so many, too many to count actually, wonderful adaptations of prose nonfiction available these days. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari first appeared in 2015. It follows the creation and evolution of humankind, from the very beginning, where there were six human species, to the modern age, where science and experimentation brings us new possibilities as a species. In 2020 and 2021, he teamed with David Vandermeulen and Daniel Casanave to create a two-volume set of his original book, this time in graphic form. Sapiens: A Graphic History contains all the original content, now enhanced by the illustrators' art.
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