Engaging Middle-Grades Readers Through Graphic Nonfiction Trade Books: A Critical Perspective on Selected Titles Recommended for Classroom Use

Other titles offered a blended-genre approach that could be called informational science/animal fantasy- books that include factual information told through the fictional story of an anthropomorphized animal (e.g., biology professor Jay Hosler's [2000] Clan Apis, which offers engaging information about bee anatomy and behavior as well as evolution and ecology, told in an emotionally moving account by a bee named Nyuki, or Hosler's [2003] The Sandwalk Adventures with a fictional Charles Darwin debating creation myths and natural selection with mites that live in his eyebrows). Included were four of the 11 Capstone Press series Disasters in History titles, along with C.M. Butzer's (2009) trade book Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel and five titles in Larry Gonick's Cartoon History trade book series.