Rural Representation and Place in Graphic Novels

​Rural Representation and Place in Graphic Novels by Chea Parton

Chea Parton grew up on a farm and still considers herself a farm girl. She is currently a rural middle school teacher and begins every day with her students in a barn feeding animals and cleaning stalls. She also works with pre-service teachers as an instructor at Purdue University. She is passionate about rural education. Her research focuses on the personal and professional identity of rural and rural out-migrant teachers as well as rural representation in YA literature. She currently runs Literacy In Place where she seeks to catalogue rural YA books and provides teaching resources and hosts the Reading Rural YAL podcast where she gives book talks. You can reach her at [email protected]. 

I was sitting at my teacher table when one of my 7th grade students approached me with a mischievous smile on her face and a book in her hands.
 
“Hey Laynie (pseudonym)” I said, wary but smiling. “Whatcha got there?”
 
“I think you should read this book.” she said with confidence, handing it to me.
 
At first, I was excited. Then I looked at the book, realized it was a graphic novel, and my face must’ve been loud, because Laynie began defending the book. I considered it for a minute or so, and then said, “You know what… I make y’all read stuff you don’t want to read all the time. Why should I be any different?” as I took the book from her.
 
Hi. My name is Chea, and I am not a graphic novel reader. 

And it’s not because I have some elitist ideas about how much easier they are than other types of reading. It’s quite the opposite, actually. Reading graphic novels takes more effort and active reading/analysis than I usually want to put in, which is why I’m in awe of my students who read them voraciously. For me, print text alone is so much easier. But I was willing to do it for a student. As I read, I contemplated the ways graphic novels can evoke ideas and characteristics of place and took to my shelves to pull down and re-acquaint myself with the rural graphic novels I have in my collection.
 
So much of culture and identity is built on place and space which also shape art, and because of the way graphic novels use illustrations, they present readers with a unique opportunity to consider how place shapes everything from cultural practices to tone.

Text to Consider:

Northranger by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo is a Whippoorwill Honor winning graphic novel about rural ranch work inspired by Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. Horror-movie-loving Cade Muñoz is a closeted queer teen growing up in Texas. So, to him, real life is scarier than his favorite slasher flicks. When his family is on hard times, Cade and his stepdad Dale, go to work on a ranch owned and operated by one of Dale’s old commanding officers. Initially, Cade hates everything about the ranch—the early mornings, all the horse poop, the heat, but when unexpected feelings develop between Cade and the rancher’s son, Henry, things take a dark and mysterious turn. Not only is the story diverse in its rural representation and completing engaging on account of the gothic mystery, readers are able to see the difficulty and amount of labor it takes to run a ranch and care for animals in a way that isn’t possible in print alone, especially if the reader has never experienced that kind of work before. The images also contribute to the gothic tone of portions of the novel and literally help to color the readers understanding of the feelings connected to the action of the story. 

Brooms by Jasmine Walls and Teo Duvall is a graphic novel set in 1930’s Mississippi about historical injustices, magic, and broom-racing. In the story, best friend duo, Billie Mae and Loretta are determined to make enough money to move out west to a state that allows Black folks to legally use magic and participate in races; Chen Kwan juggles being a good “son” to her parents and being true to herself during races; Mattie and Emma, descended from lines of strong Black and Choctaw folks, try to dodge government officials who want to send them to residential magic schools/academies; and Luella (who’s in love with Billie Mae) fights to keep the government from taking power from her cousins the way hers was. In this graphic rural historical novel, magic becomes a stand-in for the power and rights of rural folks of color and brings alive the fight to preserve them. On every page, the magic comes alive through the images. There’s also something really powerful about seeing the illustrations of the rural housing, open spaces full of fireflies, and diversity of skin tone. These aspects in illustration provide unique and powerful opportunities for readers to see themselves and the history/legacy of their ancestors before them in the text. 

A middle grade option, Candle Point by Mike and Nancy Deas follows Kay during a winter storm on the coast in the Pacific Northwest. The power is knocked out across all of Sueño Bay. Being shut-in with her big family leaves Kay feeling a bit claustrophobic, so she sets out to stay with her Aunt Gayle. Along her journey, Kay stumbles upon an injured moon creature and discovers an entire colony of them living in a network of caves and tunnels. After tricking her friends into coming to the lighthouse to help the moon creature, noting goes according to plan, and Kay ends up putting them all in danger. Can Kay regain their trust enough to save them all? The illustrations make more tangible the coastal craggy rocks, the magic of moon crystals, and the wildness of the winter storm. The trucks and tall pines, the fluffy snow, and caves are all key to the lived experiences of the characters as well as readers from rural areas like it. Kay’s plucky spirt and Aunt Gayle’s surly disposition are also more evident and nuanced in the way they have been illustrated.

I’m not an avid reader of graphic novels, nor am I a graphic novel scholar (Jason DeHart is), but I do recognize the unique power they have to show rather than tell. To let readers see themselves, their experiences, their communities in the text. Reading graphic novels that take place in rural places is an important opportunity for rural readers to see their own experiences reflected back to them and for nonrural readers to have windows that offer a super clear view into an experience that isn’t their own.
 
This post is my reminder (and maybe yours too?) to bring more of these texts into my own rural 7th and 8th grade classrooms. Happy reading!