Set to Sea is a YALSA Top Ten Graphic Novels for Teens choice for 2011. It is the story of a poor, big lug of a poet who is struggling to pen a poem he has entitled "I Set to Sea." Once night, the poet is attacked and wakes up to find himself an unwilling sailor on a ship sailing for Hong Kong. Still struggling to find the right words for his poem, the poet, over time, becomes a true sailor and, in the process, a true poet.
A school library media specialist could easily create a collaborative opportunity for English and art classes using Set to Sea. English teachers could use the poetry included in the novel to demonstrate various poetic terms and devices, such as rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, and theme. Also, the poet models throughout the novel the process of editing and revising and the importance of diction. In an art class students could examine and attempt to mimic the cross hatching the writer/artist uses to provide shading. In a culminating activity, the English students could demonstrate their understanding of poetic devices by writing their own poetry, and art students could apply their knowledge of cross hatching and shading to illustrate the poems. The school library media specialist would need to arrange the collaboration and provide the common text for both classes as well as provide a location in the library for the students to work together. The media specialist could also guide the teachers in incorporating technology into the project by providing a way for the student poets to compose and edit their poems online and finding a way for art students to upload their illustrations. For example, students could use a program like Mixbook to create their own graphic novel. Students could then share their final products with one another, with other students in the school, or with students across the country or even world.
Weing, D. (2010). Set to sea. Seattle: Fantagraphics Books.
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