Creating A Patron Collection with a Program

During my INFO 5415 Graphic Novels & Comics class, I was tasked with imagining that a library had given me $500 with the express purpose of starting or adding to the graphic novel and comics collection. With these funds, I connected the purchases to a specific patron need.

This collection will contain graphic novels of various formats from fiction to memoir surrounding the theme of immigrating to America. The Houston Public Library serves all ages from baby to adult and is located in downtown Houston. Houston has a greatly diverse population which includes those who are immigrating to the US from various countries around the world. Immigrating to the United States can be a difficult transition especially for young people who are balancing holding onto their home culture while trying to find their place in American culture. The target audience of this collection will be teens as the library has noticed an uptick in newly immigrated families with teens. The hope is that with this collection and programming in tow it will create a welcoming atmosphere and sense of community amongst this population. 

• Author/Creator Betty Tang
  

• Title Parachute Kids

• Publisher/Producer Scholastic Inc 
  

• Publication date April 2023  

• Price $24.99 

• ISBN or ISSN 9781338832709 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion This heartwarming story about three siblings surviving on their own as undocumented immigrants in the US is a National Book Award Longlist Title in the Young People’s Literature Category.  

• Author/Creator Christina Gonzalez 
  

• Title Invisible 

• Publisher/Producer Scholastic Inc.  

• Publication date August 2022  

• Price $24.99 

• ISBN or ISSN 99781338194555 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion This bilingual graphic novel (English and Spanish) telling the story of five different kids uniting for a community service project was placed on the 2023 Texas Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List.  

• Author/Creator Lily LaMotte, Ann Xu  

• Title Measuring Up  

• Publisher/Producer HarperCollins Publisher 

• Publication date October 2020  

• Price $22.99 

• ISBN or ISSN 9780062973870 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion An ALA Top 10 Graphic Novel of 2021, A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, Texas Library Association Little Maverick Selection, WA State Book Awards Finalist, An NBC AAPI Selection; has subject and theme matters pertaining to child immigrants, immigrant experiences and belonging  

• Author/Creator Robin Ha  
  

• Title Almost American Girl  

• Publisher/Producer Harper Collins Publishes  

• Publication date January 2020  

• Price $22.99 

• ISBN or ISSN 9780062685100 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion Harvey Award Nominee, Best Children or Young Adult Book, Starred Reviews from School Library Journal, ALA Booklist and Publishers Weekly; has subject matter pertaining to belonging, moving to a new country  

• Author/Creator Gene Luen Yang 
  

• Title American Born Chinese  

• Publisher/Producer First Second  

• Publication date October 2007 

• Price $24.99 

• ISBN or ISSN 9781596433731 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion New York Times bestselling graphic novel, winner of the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award, 2006 National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature; has subject matter pertaining to identity, social acceptance 

• Author/Creator Shing Yin Khor  
  

• Title The American Dream?: A Journey on Route 66 Discovering Dinosaur Statues, Muffler Men and The Perfect Breakfast Burrito  

• Publisher/Producer Lerner Publishing Group  

• Publication date August 2019 

• Price $16.99 

• ISBN or ISSN 9781942186373 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion A Forbes Best Graphic Novel of 2019, a Starred Booklist review; has subject matter pertaining to identity, immigrants, voyages and traveling  

• Author/Creator Sarah Myer 
  

• Title Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story  

• Publisher/Producer First Second 

• Publication date June 2023  

• Price $25.99 

• ISBN or ISSN 9781250268792 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion A School Library Journal Best Graphic Novel of 2023, A Booklist 2023 Editors’ Choice Graphic Novel, A New York Public Library 2023 Top 10 Books for Teens, A 2023 Texas Maverick Graphic Novel; contains subject matter pertaining to belonging, interracial adoption  

• Author/Creator Trung Le Nguyen 
  

• Title The Magic Fish  

• Publisher/Producer Random House Children’s Books  

• Publication date October 2020  

• Price $23.99 

• ISBN or ISSN 9780593125298 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion Named one of the best books of the year by the New York Public Library, Starred Reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly, A Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books 2020 Blue Ribbon Selection; contains subject and theme matters pertaining to immigrant experiences, identity, children of immigrants  

• Author/Creator Pedro Martin 
  

• Title Mexikid 

• Publisher/Producer Penguin Young Readers Group 

• Publication date August 2023 

• Price $24.99 

• ISBN or ISSN 9780593462287 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion Starred Reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly, NPR Best Book of the Year, Booklist Best Book of the Year, Kirkus Best Book of the Year, Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2023, School Library Journal Best Graphic Novel 2023; has subject matter pertaining to identity, children of immigrants  

• Author/Creator Laura Gao 
  

• Title Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American  

• Publisher/Producer HarperCollins Publishers 

• Publication date March 2022  

• Price $22.99 

• ISBN or ISSN 9780063067776 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion Starred Reviews from School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly; has subject matter pertaining to culture shock, culture conflict, immigrants, assimilation  

• Author/Creator Malaka Gharib 
  

• Title I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir  

• Publisher/Producer Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed 

• Publication date April 2019  

• Price $14.99 

• ISBN or ISSN 9780525575115 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion Starred Review from School Library Jouranal, Starred Review from Kirkus Reviews; has subject matter pertaining to American dream, identity, children of immigrants, immigrant families  

• Author/Creator Mira Jacob 
  

• Title Good Talk 

• Publisher/Producer Random House Publishing Group 

• Publication date March 2019  

• Price $26.99 

• ISBN or ISSN 9780399589041 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion Starred review from Publishers Weekly, Starred Review from School Library Journal, Starred Review from Kirkus Reviews; has subject matter pertaining to identity, families, interracial families 

• Author/Creator Malaka Gharib 
  

• Title It Won’t Always Be Like This  

• Publisher/Producer Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed 

• Publication date September 2022  

• Price $19.99  

• ISBN or ISSN 9781984860293 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion Has positive review from Publishers Weekly; has subject matter pertaining to identity, immigrant families, immigrants, growing up, culture conflict  

• Author/Creator Thi Bui 
  

• Title The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir  

• Publisher/Producer Abrams ComicArts 

• Publication date March 2017  

• Price $28.99  

• ISBN or ISSN 9781419718779 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion Has starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, School Library  Journal; has subject matter pertaining to child immigratns, immigrant families, identities, immigration and emigration, acculturation  

• Author/Creator Thien Pham 
  

• Title Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam  

• Publisher/Producer First Second 

• Publication date June 2023  

• Price $25.99 

• ISBN or ISSN 9781250809711 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion An NPR Best Books of 2023, Listed in the Washington Post’s “10 Best Graphic Novels of 2023”, A 2023 Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, A Junior Library Guild Selection; has subject matter pertaining to growing up, immigrants, refugees, self-discovery  

• Author/Creator Edited by Tea Rozman and Julie Vang  
  

• Title Our Stories Carried Us Here  

• Publisher/Producer Green Card Voices 

• Publication date August 2021 

• Price $24.99  

• ISBN or ISSN 9781949523171 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion A starred review from Kirkus Reviews; has subject matter pertaining to immigrants, refugees, voyages and travels 

• Author/Creator Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, Giovanni Rigano 
  

• Title Illegal  

• Publisher/Producer Sourcebooks 

• Publication date August 2018 

• Price $24.99  

• ISBN or ISSN 9781492662143 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion A starred review from Publishers Weekly, a starred review from Shelf Awareness; has subject matter and themes pertaining to immigrant experiences, child immigrants and refugees 

• Author/Creator Don Brown 
  

• Title The Unwanted  

• Publisher/Producer HarperCollins Publishers  

• Publication date July 2021  

• Price $12.99 

• ISBN or ISSN 9780358452140 

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion An ALA Notable Children’s Books – Older Readers Category: 2019, Middle East Book Award: Youth Non-fiction, YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults, YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens: 2019; has subject matter pertaining to refugees, hope, resilience  

• Author/Creator Irene N. Watts, Kathryn E. Shoemaker 
  

• Title Seeking Refuge 

• Publisher/Producer Tradewind Books  

• Publication date March 2017 

• Price $15.95 

• ISBN or ISSN 9781926890029  

• Any other important bibliographic information for making a purchase  

• Reason for inclusion A Starred Review from Kirkus Reviews; has subject matter pertaining to child refugees  

Total Amount: $431.77 

I then proceeded to plan a program for the collection that was purchased.

Name of program: Coming to America  

Program's timing, duration, and periodicity (e.g. 7pm for 60 minutes, weekly for a month): 

Thursdays at 6:00 – 7:30 pm, once a month (the last Thursday of each month)  

Activities in which participants will partake (5 to 7 sentences or bullet points, detail not needed): 

We will meet once a month to discuss a book they select from this collection. While discussing the book, teens will have the option to doodle, draw or create their own comic. Along with discussing this book we will have a craft activity that will tie into one of the books. When there is not a craft activity, the teens will participate in games.  

Resources needed (i.e. number of staff members, craft supplies, space, etc): 

-one meeting room  

-3 tables, 15 chairs 

-2 staff members  

-craft supplies to be determined once crafts are finalized 

-crayons, color pencils, pencils for drawing 

-paper, blank comic paneled paper  -games: Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, Exploding Kittens, Jenga, Playing Cards  

Marketing strategy (i.e. how will you let people know about program/unit): 

-Have the fliers of the program posted in the library’s teen area and around the YA graphic novel section  

-Have the event posted on the library’s main website page of events and calendar  

-Create social media posts on Facebook and Instagram   -Reach out to local high school librarians and English teachers about the program through email distribution   -Present fliers and send email communications to organizations that work with the immigrant population 

Evaluation strategy (i.e. how will you measure program/unit impact): 

-Evaluating the attendance at each meeting, noting the number of people and those who become regular participants  

-Having a pre-survey asking how they feel about transitioning to America and connecting with others 

-Having a post survey asking the same questions as the pre-survey but including questions about what they enjoyed about the program, what they did not enjoy about the program and how they think we could improve the program