This was the classic story of Romeo and Juliet, but it was told through a graphic novel. Each page featured great illustrations and had speech bubbles connected to characters, which told the story. Romeo and Juliet’s families had always been enemies. But that did not stop their love for each other. They knew they could not let their families know they wanted to be together, so they fell in love and eventually married in secrecy. Romeo ends up getting banned from the city, so Juliet takes a potion from the Friar that will make her appear dead for a short while so her family will never know she and Romeo were going to spend their lives together. The Friar promised to send word to Romeo so the plan will work properly. But Romeo never receives the message; instead, he hears that Juliet has died. He hurries back to where her body was and drinks a vial of poison. Later, Juliet awakens to find her love dead at her side. So she too commits suicide. The families realize after all of this takes place, that there is no need for quarreling anymore and they settle their differences once and for all.

This was the first graphic novel I have ever read. I really enjoyed it because it keeps you interested with the characters and all the illustrations. I liked how it was split into acts and how the characters were laid out in the beginning of the book. I would not recommend letting younger elementary children read this, because they would not understand the actions taking place in the story. But it would be a great example of how middle school or even high school students can still make use of graphic novels.

In the classroom, I could have to students create their own graphic novels. Then we could come together as a class and choose a book to make one large graphic novel on. It would be a fun way to incorporate both art and writing techniques into the day’s lessons.