A review by debz57a52
The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation by Aaron McConnell, Jonathan Hennessey
4.0
I've been meaning to look at this book for a while, and I finally borrowed it from my library! The author and illustrator do a nice job of introducing the basic information surrounding the Constitution, including the Amendments. They include references to historical politics, writers, politicians, and court cases to explain how the Constitution guided other parts of our country's history, which I found helpful in some parts. However, the helpfulness for me stemmed from the fact that I remember quite a bit of history from high school, college, and personal reading. If someone does not remember much, or never learned it in the first place, the examples offered may be too shallow to be of use as clarifying examples. I appreciated when exact quotes, either from the foundational documents, or letters, speeches, and the Federalist Papers were included in the narrative, to show that the Constitution has been thought of very differently by groups within the country since before it was ratified. I also appreciated that the author acknowledges in the text that parts of the amendments didn't immediately help those that were of non-European descent, and that that work is still happening today. I'm also impressed with how factual the narrative is, with very little left/right bias on display.
I liked the illustrator's work, both figurative and literal representations of what the words were saying. Actually, some of the figurative drawings were quite clever. I also liked that the bodies the artist due to represent parts of the government had a face comprised of the relevant building, rather than trying to figure out what that person might look like, thereby also avoiding an obvious racial bias.
All that being said, I don't know that I would adopt it as a supporting text for a class in 2022. The Constitution and its amendments has not changed since the book's publication in 2008, but some of the examples mentioned in the text (impeachment and Supreme Court Justices come to mind) is no longer accurate. I'd consider it a good book to have around for a quick refresher, and an excellent example of the way graphic novels can be used to make an often-considered "hard topic" easy to understand and read about.
I liked the illustrator's work, both figurative and literal representations of what the words were saying. Actually, some of the figurative drawings were quite clever. I also liked that the bodies the artist due to represent parts of the government had a face comprised of the relevant building, rather than trying to figure out what that person might look like, thereby also avoiding an obvious racial bias.
All that being said, I don't know that I would adopt it as a supporting text for a class in 2022. The Constitution and its amendments has not changed since the book's publication in 2008, but some of the examples mentioned in the text (impeachment and Supreme Court Justices come to mind) is no longer accurate. I'd consider it a good book to have around for a quick refresher, and an excellent example of the way graphic novels can be used to make an often-considered "hard topic" easy to understand and read about.