THIS IS A PRE-RECORDED, SCHEDULED SESSION. This is the ONLY time the session will be available during convention. The speaker is scheduled to answer questions you may have during viewing via ‘session chat’ and ‘Q&A’.

This presentation will take participants on a thematic tour of graphic novels appropriate and intended for adolescent readers. Themes will include: coming-of-age; fantasy; friendship; historical narratives; horror and other genre fiction; memoir and non-fiction; refugee and immigrant experiences; texts by Indigenous authors; science fiction; social justice; sexuality; superheroes; and stories about a number of social issues directly affecting young people, including the climate crisis, poverty, racism, and gender-based inequality. This presentation will also discuss the links between critical pedagogy and comics reading, arguing that the interpretive opportunities offered by comics allow young readers to think about social issues in a particularly creative fashion, less beholden than other forms of literature to prescribed and expected ways of thinking.