SANE Journal, 1 (1) (2010), pp. 3–26.This paper is an official position paper of the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Graphic Novels Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association and the Executive Board of the New Jersey Reading Association as well as the Legislative and Professional Standards Committee of the NJRA.
What are graphic novels?
Typically, graphic novels are bound books featuring sequential art. Though the phrase graphic novel typically suggests a genre to some readers, the phrase is indicative of a form of media which spans and supports a multitude of genres, including science fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction. They range from novellas, original novel-length narratives, autobiographies, biographies, collections of comic strips (typically around a central theme or storyline), collections of serialized comic books around a single story-arc, collections of short stories or vignettes, and compiled anthologies featuring the work of multiple authors. The purpose of works written as graphic novels ranges from evoking pleasure to informing to satirizing.
