Lesson Plan: Light

Review

Light is the best silent graphic novel I have read.  Ever.  Poignant, thoughtful, and chalked full of all of the elements we teach in young adult Language Arts settings Light is one of my top choices for some upcoming awards this year. 

Without a single word, yet packed full of action and adventure, readers of Light will feel like a third adventurer alongside the graphic novel’s two main characters.  As they trek through forests, explore caves, and meet a host of villainous characters who guard the very items they seek to find, the two adventurers’ journey through a new, thoughtfully illustrated quest destined to appeal to readers of all-ages. 

Although short, this epic journey is never going to leave my thoughts.  Why?  It’s amazingly illustrated; in fact, the images are so capturing and picturesque Cham doesn’t need to use words, for his illustrations are so perfect they pop off the page and generate all of the words you would ever need to fall into this story and recommend it to everyone you know.  With images alone, Cham has created another world and a new adventure that, I would predict, is going to catch the attention of new fans, the media, TV and film animators, and many, many more.  

Language Arts Elements of Story

Plot: Two adventurers set out on an epic silent graphic novel quest to find five magical gems.  On their journey they must first find and then defeat the guardian of each gem.  Traveling through treacherous caves and way-too-fast waterways, the two adventurers face and ultimately solve each obstacle with wit and creativity. 

Major Characters: the Light, the Dark, First Adventurer, Second Adventurer, Gem Guardian #1, Gem Guardian #2, Gem Guardian #3, Gem Guardian #4, Gem Guardian #5, Tall and Grey Characters

Major Settings: First Adventurer’s Home, Black and White Forrest, Color Forrest, Cave, Cave Water, Tree Stump, Mountains, Planet

Themes: Action and Adventure, Searching, Quests and Journeys, Problem-solving, Friendship

Lesson Plan Recommendations Using the Common Core Standards for Middle and High School Readers

Key Ideas and Details:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3

Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).

*  The number(s) referenced above corresponds to the number used by the Common Core Standards (www.commoncore.org) 

Lesson Idea for Middle and High School Readers

Directions: Because high school and middle school students have been traditionally conditioned to read with words this graphic novel’s use of images and/or art to tell the story is key to comprehension.  Educators can gauge comprehension by asking students to recreate the images that they feel best told the main ideas in this silent graphic novel. 

To begin, educators can ask students to take two pieces of paper and fold them in half.  Next, educators can ask students to fold the paper in half again.  After folding twice, the paper is now divided into eight blocks; in graphic novel terms, we can see these eight blocks as eight panels.  Each of Cham’s pages are graphic novel panels by definition, the space in which a piece of the story takes place. 

Limiting students to eight, ask students to work in small groups to identify what they think are the top 6 – 8 panels or pages that best tell the story.  After they identify their choices students will need to recreate those pages/panels and also be able to explain their choices to the entire class.  On the back of each of their pages/panels students need to write a two – three sentence explaining their choices, asking themselves: “Why did we identify this panel?  What is its major, overall significance to the story?”

Finally, the entire class can share their selections and rationales with each other.