Libraries finding graphic novels aren't kid stuff

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When Amy Crump took over as director of the Marshall Public Library in central Missouri two years ago, she decided to build up the library's offerings for young adults by buying the literary world's hot new thing — graphic novels.

"The bulk of our graphic novels are for young adults, and they're very popular," Crump said, estimating the library's collection has gone from only a handful to around 75.

Among the new acquisitions was "Blankets" by Craig Thompson and "Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic" by Alison Bechdel, two semi-autobiographical accounts of the respective authors' turbulent childhoods that include ruminations on strict religious upbringing and homosexuality.

The two novels touched off what Crump said was the first challenge of library materials in Marshall's 16-year history, as parents complained that the books, which include pictures of a naked couple, could be read by children, attracted by the comic book-like drawings.

"My concern does not lie with the content of the novels. Rather my concern is with the illustrations and their availability to children and the community," said one resident, Louise Mills, during a recent public hearing reported in the Marshall Democrat-News. "Does this community want our public library to continue to use tax dollars to purchase pornography?"

The library board has since removed the two books from circulation while it develops a policy governing how it collects materials in the future, a policy that would determine the novels' eventual fates.

Libraries across the country are increasingly buying graphic novels as they seek to reconnect with younger patrons and respond to popular trends.

The novels, using the pictures and dialogue balloons of comic books to tell sometimes sophisticated stories in book form, are one of the fastest-growing sectors of the publishing industry, selling $250 million last year, according to market research firm ICV2 Publishing.

Milton Griepp, chief executive of ICV2, which tracks pop culture retail, estimated libraries add another 5 percent to 10 percent to retail sales of graphic novels, which totaled only $75 million in 2001.

"The last two or three years' growth has been pretty rapid in libraries, and that's because graphic novels have started to be respected as legitimate literature," Griepp said.

"Maus," a Holocaust memoir by Art Spiegelman, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 while Gene Luen Yang's "American Born Chinese" last year was the first graphic novel to be nominated for the National Book Award.