Eli Whitney and the Historic Graphic Novel

Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin

Published by: Capstone Press

Written by: Jessica Gunderson

Illustrated by: Gerry Acerno, Rodney Ramos, and Charles Bartnett, III

This four chapter graphic novel about Eli Whitney and his turbulent journey towards inventing the Cotton Gin.  This thirty-two page picture book includes wonderfully expressive illustrations of Eli Whitney and eighteenth century America and cleverly relates historic invention and discovery to the needs of the times.  Instead of vaguely stating that Eli Whitney sought to invent a cotton gin that would help cotton farmers separate cotton seeds from cotton fibers, he did, and it changed the way Americans processed cotton forever, this text draws readers in with  its vivid depiction of human emotion.  The first image in the text shows a very disgruntled plantation owner addressing what readers can assume are slaves working on his cotton farm.  Gunderson builds towards Eli's moment of genius by highlighting some of the main frustrations with farming cotton during this period: cotton was grown in the southern United States but milled in Europe, this made cotton expensive, mills were eventually built in the US, but cotton was still expensive because it took so long to separate the seeds from the fibers.  Eli Whitney, being a true intellectual and natural scientist is inspired by his friends Catherine Greene and Phineas Miller to create a new and improved cotton gin (who knew the "roller gin" pre-dated Whitney's cotton gin but it was only useful when separating black-seed cotton, not the more widespread green-seed cotton).

You can preview the first two chapters of Eli Whitney through Google books to see if you're interested in this story, but know that it is a limited preview.  Unfortunately, you cannot see the inspired extension on the final pages of the fourth chapter that discuss the lasting impact of the cotton gin. Though the bulk of the text does not focus on how cotton farming affected the slaves working in the fields, Gunderson recognizes Whitney's invention as both a stimulus to the Southern American economy and as an unfortunate catalyst to the American slave culture.  

The quick facts page, glossary, or related resources listed at the end of the text are useful but not completely effective.  The glossary has a short list of useful terms, but these terms are not highlighted throughout the text.  I would have preferred these vocabulary words to be addressed during the introduction of the text or in context.  The related resources listed at the end of the text, however, are extremely useful.  There are four more age-appropriate texts on the cotton gin listed as well as a full bibliography.  There are also instructions for students to visit FactHound.com, enter the book's ID, and browse prescreened, age-appropriate sites (http://www.facthound.com/CategorySearch.aspx?ISBN=0736868437).  This option is available for all Capstone texts, which can also be searched by state standard at http://www.capstonepub.com/aspx/stdIndex.aspx. 

Blog of a Wimpy Reader

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Published by Amulet Books

A novel in cartoons by Jeff Kinney

You know something big is happening in the literary world when you start typing “Diary of…” into your Google search bar and the first two suggestions that pop up are “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and “Diary of Anne Frank,” in that order.  Isn’t that interesting, especially since Diary of a Wimpy Kid, “is a JOURNAL, not a diary” according to the novel’s protagonist, Greg Heffley.  Greg, a loveable but sometimes annoying sixth grader, shares his journey through middle school (and soon, high school!) with countless readers around the world.  Luckily for us, Greg is an avid writer who captures the emotions of every almost-middle-schooler in his witty prose and to the point illustrations.  While browsing the Internet for some fun facts about this series, I discovered that Jeff Kinney started out as a cartoonist and worked on the idea of Wimpy Kid for over six years before, wait for it, he began publishing what would eventually become a book in daily, blog-like installments!!!  Just think!  All of these blog posts we are writing could one day, maybe, lead to one of the most successful young adult series in recent times!

book #2

Too bad we’re not writing fiction in any of our classes….just kidding!   According to http://www.wimpykid.com/, “the online version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid has had more than 80 million visits, and is typically read by more than 70,000 kids a day.”  That’s something to talk about!  That also might explain why my “Diary of…” search prompted me with “a Wimpy Kid.”  This graphic novel is a trailblazer in the realm of blogging and online literature.  Kinney started publishing the online version of Wimpy Kid on http://www.funbrain.com/ and, after the success of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, he was asked to create another remarkable website, http://www.poptropica.com/.  While both of these websites are wonderful for children (and adults…I just spent a half hour exploring them), funbrain.com is an awesome tool for the classroom (poptropica.com is more of a continuous online video game where kids can create avatars and explore places, some educational, some not, all fun).   Funbrain.com has flash arcades for reading, math, and other subject matter.  You can play math baseball, create your own Mad Libs, Jr., Grammar Gorillas, or just read a Web Book (like Wimpy Kid).  

book #3

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie” was fourth on my original Google search suggestions, so that also speaks volumes.  This series, like many now a days, has been made into a major motion film; I bring this up now, on my children’s literature blog, because in a rare twist of fate, this movie inspired by a book inspired another book: Diary of a Wimpy Kid Movie Diary.  This movie book is actually very interesting, and tracks Greg Heffley and Zachary Gordon, the young actor that plays Greg, through the entire creative process.  Jeff Kinney shows his readers behind the scene of the original Diary, its sequels and, eventually, its big screen adaptation came to be.  Kinney also has a Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book that helps inspire young comics and authors to take Greg Heffley on his next adventure.  

book #4

While I would love to incorporate these books into my classroom if I had a third, fourth, or fifth grade class, many teachers and parents do not feel the same unconditional love towards Greg Heffley’s journal.  This book talks about real things, from the viewpoint of a very realistic character and sometimes, real life is less than ideal.  Greg does face bullies, social ostracisms, and worst of all, the Cheese Touch, over the course of the first novel.  Some critics believe that these topics are not appropriate for classroom instruction, others believe that by introducing such controversial topics and exposing kids/tweens to journaling, these books are the best tools a classroom can have.  It should be pretty obvious by now which side I am on, but that doesn’t mean that I do not see any flaws in Greg Heffley’s lifestyle: although Greg is bullied, he is sometimes a bully himself; Greg is picked on by his older brother, Rodrick, but Greg picks on his younger brother, Manny.  Good or bad, this series is definitely worth the read and book five comes out in thirteen days so hurry up and get started!

Coming Soon!