Image credit: Publishers Weekly
Middle grade graphic novel category is becoming popular in recent years. As a result, the number of graphic adaptations of middle grade books has also exploded. That’s because graphic adaptations bring older stories to life and expand the audience. In fact, such graphic novels have gained acceptance among educators, parents, and librarians also. Now, publishers are using graphic adaptations to attract the middle grade graphic novel audience to their books.
Graphic adaptations expand the audience in other ways. Corey, Shana Corey, editorial director of Random House Graphic, grew up reading Mary Pope Osborne’s Magic Tree House books. She thinks the cool factor makes the graphic novels a little easier for older kids to read.
Kara Sargent, director of branded publishing at Aladdin, says:
“A graphic novel is a new way of telling the story, and hopefully it will bring some new fans to the series.”
Graphic adaptations also give readers a way to approach longer series, such as Sweet Valley Twins, which is part of a franchise with more than 200 prose books.
Whitney Leopard, executive editor at Random House Graphic, who edits the Sweet Valley Twins graphic novels, says:
“The graphic novels are a good entry point. Kids can start reading the graphic novels, and they can jump into more adventures if they have that available to them in a different format.”
As the category matures, older graphic novels can even get a boost from new prose books. In 2012, Random House published a graphic adaptation of Jeanne DuPrau’s The City of Ember, which was a bestseller back in 2003. When DuPrau’s new prose book, Project F, was published last October, Random House released new editions of both versions of the older title as well.
One benefit of adaptations is that they allow editors to update the books, taking out the corded phones, modernizing hairstyles, and generally bringing things up to date. That includes making the cast more diverse.
The adaptation process varies from publisher to publisher; sometimes a new writer adapts the script, sometimes the artist does all the work, and the original author is usually involved as well. Editors and adapters have to balance the old and the new, keeping the essence of the book while translating it to a new medium.
Navkiran Dhaliwal is a seasoned content writer with 10+ years of experience. When she's not writing, she can be found cooking up a storm or spending time with her dog, Rain.