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26 Ontario School Library Association You will find many series titles with diverse characters presented as members of the cast: Magic Trixie; The ElseWhere Chronicles; Ramp Rats; Knights of the Kitchen Table; Robot City Adventures; Secret Science Alliance; Lila and Ecco's Do it Yourself Comics Club; and Smile. "and action" entertainment has recently introduced an african-american superhero in the three-volume graphic novel series Legend of the Mantamaji. necessary in the search for diverse comics and graphic novels is accessing titles created by diverse talent: Mariko and Jillian Tamaki are co-creators of Skim and This One Summer, Marguerite abouet has written the Aya series about cote d'Ivoire, Marjane satrapi writes about Iran in Persepolis, chad solomon creates the aboriginal series Adventures of Rabbit and Bear Paws, and alison Bechdel uses her own life to create Fun Home about the discovery of her sexual orientation. cece Bell writes of her experiences growing up with a hearing loss in El Deafo, and Gene Luen Yang has created a graphic novel about being an American Born Chinese. The list is short and our task as teacher- librarians is to locate and promote these diverse creators. The Internet and social media have been important in leading the comics industry to begin addressing diversity. a press release from we need diverse Books states, "what began as a social media awareness campaign quickly grew into a global movement that demanded the attention of the publishing industry, the media, and readers everywhere" (sousa, n.d.). campaigns promoting diversity include: #weneeddiversebooks on Twitter and facebook; and #weneeddiversecomics and #wearecomics on Tumblr. readers, creators and other comic enthusiasts are asked to post a photo with an identifying sign reading #wearecomics or #iamcomics to share the diversity of comics readers, creators, publishers, retailers, fans, and professionals. In september 2014, Banned Books week in the United states focussed on challenges to comics and graphic novels. "comics are uniquely vulnerable because of the medium's visual nature and because comics still carry the stigma of low-value speech" (Baur, foust, 2014, para.8). add to this increasingly diverse content that in the past has not been part of the mainstream, a misunderstanding that all comics are meant for children, and 'knee jerk' reactions to one panel or page in a comic or graphic novel and challenges result. In our roles as teacher- librarians we should be educating ourselves first and our colleagues, parents and administration to the variety and benefit of keeping comics in our schools. The comic Book Legal defense fund (cBLdf) is a non-profit organization supporting and protecting the intellectual rights of the comic book community. cBLdf was a sponsor of Banned Books week along with the freedom to read foundation, and has worked with creators, retailers, publishers and readers as well as libraries and educators to promote the reading of comics. suggestions for addressing issues such as diversity can be found on the cBLdf site: www.cbldf.org/librarian-tools/using- graphic-novels-in-education. Building a Diverse Comics & Graphic Novels Collection selection and acquisition depend on both budget and suitability. Graphic novels and comics are available in thirty- two page single issues (floppy), and multiple issue volumes or graphic novels (bound as trade paperback or hard cover), which, depending on the binding, can range in price from $5.00 to over $30.00. circulation of the comics must be considered before purchasing, as floppies will not maintain physical integrity and some paperback binding is not durable. reinforcing the spine with a heavy duty stapler and adding protective plastic covering will improve the life of some bound paperback titles. accessing comics and graphic novel reviews in journals such as: The Horn Book Magazine, Kirkus Book Reviews or Quill and Quire may be possible. online comics review sites will more consistently supply teacher-librarians with insight into many graphic novels regarding diverse content and appropriateness. some of my favourites include: • Comic Book Resources: Comics Should Be Good www.goodcomics.comicbookresources.com • Comic Vine www.comicvine.com/reviews • The Comics Journal www.tcj.com • The Diamond Bookshelf www.diamondbookshelf.com • No Flying No Tights www.noflyingnotights.com …continued from page 27