Graphic Novel- The Adventures of Polo

Part One

Book Information: Faller, R. (2006). The adventures of Polo. Roaring Brook Press 
Genre: Graphic novel /picture book 
Grade level: Kindergarten - 2nd

Part Two

Thoughts About Craft: This particular Graphic Novel has not written words. The entire story is told through pictures. Consequently, the pictures need to be good and show detail. This books pictures defiantly lives up to the challenge. Bright, vivid colors make up the illustrations. I also found it interesting that there is a variety of full page pictures and several small squares of pictures. On some of the small pictures there are very subtle changes, but this keeps the reader engaged and looking for the changes. 

Part Three

Critique: Overall, I thought this book was adorable. I had a smile on my face while I was reading it because the story is so cute. Polo, a little dog, goes on an adventure from the depths of the ocean to the volcanic and tropical islands to ice caps to a different planet and then he makes his way home. He meets several different animals on his adventures and they all become friends. This book would resonate well with young children because it has some childhood fantasy about going to different places. When I searched the book online, I found out this this book is part of a series. There are five other books about Polo. Despite having no words, this graphic novel tells a cute story about a little dogs big adventure. 

Part Four

Lesson Sketch: 
Grade: 1st
Lesson Objectives:
         Students will be able to: 
                   - Compare and contrast the adventures of Polo in two different books 
                   - Distinguish between different pictures shown as to what book they belong to  
                * Based on Common Core standard CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.9
Lesson Outline: 
1. Teacher reads students The Adventures of Polo and then reads Polo: The Runaway Book 
2.  Teacher will discuss with students the different adventures that occur in each book, making a list on the board
3. The list will then be taken off and a series of pictures will be shown on the board from both books
4. Students will look at the pictures and decide wheter that adventure took place in the first or second book
5. Students will then write a 1 for the first book or a 2 for the second book depending on which they think the image is from
6.  After all images are shown, teacher will then go over the answers and discuss with students

Questions:  
1. What was your favorite adventure that Polo took in The Adventures of Polo?
2. Your favorite adventure Polo took in Polo: The Runaway Book?  
3. How was Polo's adventures different in the two books?
4. Do Polo's adventures have any similarities?  

Links to Outside Resources:  

•  This is the authors webpage, but it is in French. So unless you speak French it would be difficult to use, but I wanted to include it because his illustrations are really great on this page. http://www.regisfaller.com/index.php?a=categorie&id=3
• Here is the translated version of the webpage that is at the back of the book. It has some fun pictures and interactive activities and projects. There are directions on how to make is boat out of paper that would be fun to integrate into the lesson. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.chezpolo.com/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dwww.chezpolo.com%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26channel%3Dsb%26biw%3D1043%26bih%3D458
•  Here is a good website about graphic novels. http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/graphicnovels.asp