Honestly think these books are kind of garbage in that Nate is a total dick and models awful behaviors. I sound like I'm a hundred, probably, but it is sort of depressing how awful he is! It's the same brand of humor as Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but those were funnier to me so I guess I was more tolerant of Greg's awfulness. Anyway, the plus side is that kids do seem to go through these happily and eagerly, and kids reading anything instead of nothing is always a plus! One of the negatives, though, is that I've found that struggling readers gravitate towards graphic novels like this because there's less text, but in actuality, graphic novels can be more difficult to comprehend since you have to draw inferences constantly and end up jumping settings and time frequently. So it's definitely important to check comprehension frequently and model drawing inferences for such students. Big Nate Strikes Again by Lincoln Peirce is about a boy who is in middle school who struggles with everything a young adolescent might. His main focus is his relationships with others, his two best friends, his crush, and then there is Gina, his archenemy. His relationship with Gina is the focus of this book, they are forced to work together: on a social studies project and on their fleece-ball team. They are always in conflict with each other; they appear to be complete opposites. Over the course of the story, they sort of come to understand one another and accept that they are not always right. This book is a graphic novel, there are comics on every page that accompany the main text of the book. The pictures reveal a lot of dialogue between the characters as well as a lot about the personalities of different people mentioned throughout the story. This story would have a lot of appeal for kids that can relate or for any child that enjoys graphic novels.
