Nimona by Noelle Stevenson: Relevance to collection development and reviewing resources for Teacher Librarians
Teachers are some of the best advocates for stories and reading and “all teachers know the value of stories” (Hourihan, 1997). However, it most often is the task of the Teacher Librarian to make the decisions about what books are suitable for their collection. It is within the ALIA/ASLA Standards of professional excellence for Teacher Librarians (2005) that it is mandated that Teacher Librarians should select resources that assist in improving their student’s social, cognitive and emotional growth. It is also within the job description of a teacher librarian that those resources are engaging and encourage “reading for pleasure”. The role of the Teacher Librarian has changed from what La Marca (2007) states as the person responsible for “storage and dissemination” to a critical engager with texts and their intended audience. It is therefore necessary for Teacher Librarians to have a firm grasp on the content and potential of a resource, in this case, a novel, before purchasing and unleashing it into circulation. This can be done through personally reading the text and through gathering other readers, publishers and bloggers opinions through reviews. This case study will analyse the graphic novel “Nimona” written by Noelle Stevenson (2015) with regards to the themes, narration and characterisation as identified by several sources.
The importance of treating children’s literature with the same level of criticism as adult literature cannot be understated as not doing so is essentially saying that children’s literature is not as important (Hunt 1991). Children and young adult’s literature is possibly more important, from a teacher and a Teacher Librarian’s perspective, as it is the bread and butter so to speak of teaching children to read, understand and enjoy books and other texts. If children’s literature is not interesting and engaging and if it is not of a high quality, it has very little usefulness in a school library. Thus it is essential for Teacher Librarians to have a thorough understanding of these aspects of any book that enters their collection.
“Nimona” is an action-packed, unexpected rollercoaster of emotions. It evokes a visceral response in the reader which makes putting the book down difficult. It was originally written as a serialised web-comic but was picked up by HarperTeen publishers before it was finished. It has since been named as a National Book Award finalist (National Book Foundation, 2015) and has an almost cult-like following online. Berry (2015) introduced the plot by saying “It’s hard to resist the brash audacity of the title character of this well-constructed, fast-moving, funny, and touching fantasy”. It is Stevenson’s first published novel, though she is also the writer and illustrator of the “Lumberjanes” comic book series.
The narrative style of “Nimona” is twofold. As it is a graphic novel, a majority of the story is told through the illustrations. Unlike some comic strips, there are no “narration boxes” which tell the story. With the exception of a few time place cards, the entirety of the text is dialogue. There is a dependence of both on each other, the text and the illustrations. The illustrations give cues to the reader about the text and vice versa. It is this feature that enables a wide audience, encompassing a range of reading abilities. In “Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls” website in the “Bibliophiles” section (Beresford, 2016), the review of “Nimona” concentrates on the feelings and emotions aroused by the book, claiming it to be a “hell of a ride” and that it “stayed with me” after she had finished reading the book. As an adult reader, this proves the wide age range of readership that “Nimona” encompasses.
Conversely, it is the illustrations that lead other reviewers to believe it be an “older reader” story. Berry (2015) (from “Common Sense Media”, a review site for parents) explains the storyline as appropriate for those aged 13 and above as “Violent scenes are generally cartoonish and not likely to disturb sensitive readers. There is little sexual content or substance use, and potentially strong language is limited to “dammit,” “damn,” “hell,” “crap,” and “pissed.” This adds to the evidence that “Nimona” is a book suitable for upper primary and over age groups. However, knowing your students is just as important as knowing the content in being able to recommend suitable books to students. As children develop at different rates, some students may be ready for this text at an earlier chronological age. A student in middle primary school may have the maturity and ability to read and enjoy “Nimona”. This would come down to the teacher and or Teacher-Librarian’s professional judgment on a student to student basis.
To add to this, it is essential to a Teacher Librarian’s professional judgement of a text to review the literary aspect of characterization. It could be said that there has been a lot left unsaid in the story and has left it up to the reader to make their own assumptions about the true intentions and relationships of the characters. With regards to intertextuality, it takes cues from other popular literature, a nod to the Robin Hood legend in the tournament challenge. However, it is truly unique in its entirety as it appears in parts to take its lead from traditional comic and historical styles, but then changes to something completely different. The “evil nemesis” character has a quite unusual role in the story, especially with his relationship to the titular character as his sidekick. It is almost kind and fatherly, completely undermining his “evilness” as shown in Figure 1. In the blog “Lit Addicted Brit” the reviewer has noted Lord Blackheart as being “lauded as a villain but is obviously conflicted”. Beresford (2016) also makes comment on how “the novel is a stripped-down fantasy story of the bad guys becoming the good guys, but it’s much more than that.” There is a lot of depth to Stevenson’s characters which add to the book’s appeal and its usefulness as a teaching tool.
Nimona herself is a bit of a contradiction, she is not the typical heroine nor villain, but something in between. Beresford (2016) says she was surprised by the way Noelle Stevenson “played with a lot of the tropes and story arcs of traditional comics, spinning them in awesome, engaging, feminist ways”. Though “Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls” is a self-confessed feminist website, it is clear that there are feminist themes throughout “Nimona” particularly pertaining to Nimona herself. She is not the typical female lead to a comic book. She is physically different to most female comic characters, as well as tom-boyish, opinionated, forceful and independent. This is mirrored in the review by “Lit Addicted Brit” where she describes “Nimona” by writing: “For a relatively short book that has plenty of action, there’s a surprising amount of character development” (Lit Addicted Brit. 2016). Nimona, Blackheart and Goldenlion all undertake changes in their motivations and beliefs throughout the novel, which not only adds interest to the story, but challenges the reader to discover the reasons behind such changes.
A significant reason for the changes in character’s motivations in “Nimona” could be due to the societal changes occurring throughout the novel. Modern themes of governmental corruption and influence of the media (see Figure 2) are to be found throughout the narrative but are not thrown in the face of the reader, they are quite subtle and assume a prior knowledge, though this is not necessary for the understanding of the plot. Beresford (2016) also notes topical themes saying “It strikes environmentalist and anti-government tones”. It is features like this that allow a large range of readership, it is not just intended for young adult readers, but for adults as well. In addition, such themes give an extended use for the text beyond reading for pleasure, and could be used in subjects like English, for the textual features, or perhaps Civics and Citizenship looking at the roles and responsibilities of the government in a society (ACARA, 2015)
With the number of themes that can be taken from the book “Nimona” it would be a useful addition to a school library, for both classroom and general readership. The structure of the narrative, a graphic novel, would appeal to reluctant readers as the text is broken up into accessible dialogue and textual clues are given through the illustrations. The vocabulary, however, is well developed enough to give a challenge to confident readers and keep them engaged. It is only through personally reading and deconstructing the text as well as sourcing other opinions and suggestions for use through independent and varied reviews that a balanced view of a text can be ascertained. It is not only useful for justifying the addition of a selected text to a library’s collection, but also for Teacher Librarians to assist teachers in choosing books relevant to their students and the curriculum.
References
ACARA. (2015). Civics and Citizenship. Retrieved from ACARA: Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority: http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum_1/learning_areas/humanities_and_social_sciences/civics_and_citizenship.html
ALIA/ASLA. (2005). Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians. Retrieved from Australian Library and Information Association: https://www.alia.org.au/about-alia/policies-standards-and-guidelines/standards-professional-excellence-teacher-librarians
Beresford, T. (2016, January 8). Bibliophiles Review: NIMONA. Retrieved from Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls: http://amysmartgirls.com/bibliophiles-review-nimona/
Berry, M. (2015, March 10). Nimona Book Review. Retrieved from Common Sense Media: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/nimona#
Brit, L. A. (2016, January 26). Graphic Novel Review: ‘Nimona’ by Noelle Stevenson. Retrieved from Lit Addicted Brit: http://litaddictedbrit.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/graphic-novel-review-nimona-by-noelle.html
Hourihan, M. (1997). Introduction. In Hourihan, Margery, Deconstructing the hero: literary theory and children’s literature (pp. 1–8). London: Routledge.
La Marca, S. (2007). The Three A’s: Attitude, Access, Ambience . New Review of Children’s Literature and Librarianship, 87–109. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13614540500105628
National Book Foundation. (2015). Nimona: 2015 National Book Award Finalist, Young People’s Literature . Retrieved from National Book Foundation: http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2015_ypl_stevenson.html#.Vwr4BUfP0rs
Stevenson, N. (2015). Nimona. New York: Harper Teen.