The Mystery of the Midnight Meows

Teamwork; Caring for animals

Intro to Graphic Novels

• This story gives kids great experience reading and thinking about graphic novels as a literary form. 

Watch a Video (10 minutes)

"What's in a Comic?" 

• Our video teaches kids about the features of a comic.
• Before watching, tell kids to look out for four features they might find in a comic
• After watching, ask for kids’ help to fill out a list of comic features on chart paper. The features mentioned in the video are: panels, speech bubbles, thought bubbles, and onomatopoeia.
• Tell kids to look for those features in the mini graphic novel. They can fill in our “Comic Features Hunt” skills sheet after reading.

Preview Vocabulary (3-15 minutes)

• Play the online vocabulary slideshow. This story’s featured words are mystery, solved, rescued, and adorable.

Make a Prediction (5 minutes)

• Open your magazines to “The Mystery of the Midnight Meows.” Ask kids: What kind of story is this? (a comic or a mini graphic novel)
• Next, read the Think and Read prompt on page 13: “As you read, make predictions. Think about why Mr. Muffin might be meowing. At the end, ask yourself if you were right.” Encourage children to think about this prompt as they read.

• Kids can read this story individually, in small groups, or as a class.
• As they read, ask kids to jot down their predictions about why Mr. Muffin is meowing. 

Extend the Story With an Activity (20 minutes)

• Kids can “finish” the story with the “What Happens Next?” printable. They’ll fill in the voice bubbles for the characters and create their own comic panel.
• This activity works in the skill of making inferences

Assessment: Quiz (10 minutes)

• Pass out the quiz to assess comprehension of the article.
• We also offer a lower-level quiz.

NEW! Special Lesson for Independent Learning While Remote (30-40 minutes)

• We created a brand-new resource to make it easy for your students to do an independent remote lesson with the mini graphic novel.
• Look in your Resources section for the “Slide Lesson.” This self-contained, easy-to-use group of Google Slides walks your students through reading the mini graphic novel. Students will read the story independently, answer three questions after reading, and then do our “What Happens Next?” inference page.
• It’s a simple way to take the resources we have already created and put them in one place so you don’t have to create anything new!

NEW BOOK ALERT!

• The artist for “The Mystery of the Midnight Meows” is Shannon Wright. She illustrated Twins, a graphic novel written by Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author Varian Johnson, which just came out this October. Check it out!