The First Second Publishing company, one of my favorite sources for interesting graphic novels, has started up a new educational graphic novel series around science. Called Science Comics, the books are designed to help readers dive deep into scientific ideas.
I just finished reading one of the first in the series, called Coral Reefs: Cities of the Ocean, and it is a fantastic example of how graphic novels can impart important information in a fun and engaging way, with humor mixed in with facts in a very visual way. Author/illustrator Maris Wicks works as a program manager at the New England Aquarium, so she is well versed in all things related to the oceans.
The book introduces us to our narrator, a little Bony Fish (known scientifically as Osteichthyes .. lots of content-area vocabulary in here), with big glasses, whose witty and funny and curious about the world. The reader, entertained by the narrator, comes to learn about such concepts as classification of animals (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species), the impact of pollution and global warming on the seas, and a wide array of creatures who live in the ocean.
But, as the title suggests, we also learn a whole lot about Coral Reefs, which are amazing structures that have a vital importance to the world as home to many fish and plants, and other smaller beings who helped filter our air and water for the rest of us, even though we rarely show our appreciation.
We learn about Coral as a living creature, and how Coral Reefs are formed, and the symbiotic nature of Coral and other creatures. We also learn about the fragile nature of Coral Reefs in the era of Global Warming. It’s not all gloom and doom, as Bony Fish gives us suggestions for what we can do to protect our oceans, even if you live nowhere near it.
The artwork here is very engaging, and integrates complex information in ways that should hold the interest of any reader interested in the ocean and Coral Reefs. Unlike some content-area graphic novels out there in the world (and I have read more than my share) that seem thrown together to make a buck off the graphic novel movement, Coral Reefs: Cities of the Ocean seems more like an act of love by someone who is deeply immersed in the ocean, as Wicks is.
A likely target audience would be upper elementary into middle school, although younger readers would still get a lot out of the book, even if some of the vocabulary was too dense.
Peace (in the sea),
Kevin