ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways in which teachers are, and are not, using young adult graphic novels in literacy instruction. I analyze the results of a survey I distributed in the spring, summer, and fall of 2008 to secondary school English teachers in which I asked, “Do you teach graphic novels?” and “Please explain why or why not.” I added these questions to a larger survey about literacy teaching practices almost as an afterthought; they seemed very straightforward, and I naïvely felt the results would be somewhat predictable. With the publication of many research and pedagogical journal articles in recent years touting the viability, flexibility, and credibility of including graphic novels in English language arts instruction, I was certain the results would indicate that a large percentage of teachers were at least experimenting with these texts. What I found when the results came in, however, was quite the opposite.
