Jessica Levine

In 2023, graphic novels are no longer a new category but an established staple on library shelves. All signs point to the continued boom and increasing expansion of the format across all genres.

Educators know the pandemic created delays, deficiencies, and crises for children not only in mental health, but in social skills, relationships, and routines. Children’s book publishers have also recognized the greater importance and growing need for social and emotional learning–centered titles this year.

Giving all children the opportunity to see themselves and their world authentically represented in books is key to their personal and academic development.

Educators are keenly aware of the need for emotional support for children as they return to in-person schooling. In fact, many teachers feel that social and emotional learning comes first.

Distance learning has deprived kids of social interaction, in-person connection with their teachers, close collaboration with their peers, and the face-to-face sharing of emotions. The full impact these deprivations will have on kids’ mental and emotional health remains to be seen.

After a full year of distance, hybrid, and just plain different learning, the “COVID slide,” pandemic-related learning loss, is trumping the usual concerns about the “summer slide.”