Taking note of the rising demand from libraries for book-format comics, Ingram Library Services is offering a listing of more than 100 graphic novels to assist librarians in building collections.
Ingram's graphic novel standing-order program offers more than 100 graphic novels, including superhero mainstays like Marvel Comics' Spiderman, humor/fantasy works like Jeff Smith's Bone (Cartoon Books) and SF and fantasy titles such as Mystic (CrossGen).
Keel Hunt, a spokesperson for Ingram, told PW that over the last two years, "the demand for graphic novels has snowballed."
Other spokespeople at Ingram told PW that librarians have recognized that kids are visually attuned to and "connect" with comics. Comics artwork is "high quality," the stories are "powerful" and schools are adding graphic novels to their curriculums, Ingram noted. For example, Ted Rall's recent To Afghanistan and Back (NBM) is being used in classroom discussions.
Graphic novels are so hot in libraries that they have been chosen as the theme of this year's Teen Read Week (Oct. 13—19) (www.ala.org/teenread/).
The graphic novel listing is closely aligned with Ingram's anime-graphic novel tie-in series program, which lists Japanese-style comics, called manga, and anime, their popular animated film tie-in versions.
The progam can be found at www.Ingramlibrary.com.
