Visual Texts for Teens

Readers of picture books and graphic novels know that visual images sometimes tell a story in a way that words cannot. Although the majority of visual texts are published for children, a growing number of books written for teens incorporate visual material in ways that can challenge and stretch older readers. Tune in to hear about newly-published middle grade and young adult fiction, graphic novels, biographies, travel memoirs, and informational books, all of which use visual material in ways that enrich the text's meaning.

After listening to this episode, be sure to print out this list of recommended titles to take to the library or book seller.

Books featured in this episode:

• Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt (Clarion Books, 2011)
• Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge (Amulet Books, 2011)
• Winter Town by Stephen Emond (Little, Brown, 2011)
• Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (Scholastic, 2011)
• Into the Unknown: How Great Explorers Found Their Way by Land, Sea, and Air by Stewart Ross (Candlewick, 2011)
• Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert by Marc Aronson (Atheneum, 2011)
• To Timbuktu: Nine Countries, Two People, One True Story by Casey Scieszka and Steven Weinberg (Roaring Brook, 2011)
• Drawing from Memory by Allen Say (Scholastic, 2011)
• Lost and Found by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine, 2011)