What “counts” as a graphic novel or comic? It’s an interesting question, especially with the proliferation of the graphic 
style into a number of different formats and genres. It’s easy to identify some nonfiction as being a graphic, especially those that have a strong narrative like memoirs, history, or the Science Comics series, which use a fictional narrative structure. It gets a little more confusing when it comes to illustrated nonfiction, like Lindsey Leigh’s latest book, but I, personally, stick by what I tell the kids—if it has speech bubbles, it’s a comic!
If we stick with that, Leigh’s book is definitely a comic as not only does it include speech bubbles it also divides information up into panels with something of a narrative structure. Her previous comic-style nonfiction book explored the depths of the ocean and this title explores the depths of the earth and the strange life-forms to be found in caves.
After introducing the concept of caves, the bulk of the book explores the three different types of cave animals, troglobites, troglophiles, and trogloxenes. Leigh then gives an overview of memorable caves around the world, and finishes up with the human history of interaction with caves and the need for conservation efforts around caves. The book ends with an index of the creatures introduced.
The spread on olms, a troglobite and blind salamander found in European caves, is a good example of Leigh’s work. The background colors are a swirling mix of deep purples and greens. Against these, the lavender olms, with pink, filly gills, stand out well. Two panels on the first page introduce them and their habitat, showing them zipping through a cave habitat. Below the panels, two olms are shown cuddled together, saying “Time for an olm cuddle puddle!” The following page includes another set of panels, demonstrating the olm’s ability to go dormant for long periods, and the spread finishes with a comparison of olms and axolotls, with the two declaring “We don’t wanna grow up!”
The olms are drawn in a curvy, comic style, managing to look cheerful even without facial features other than a hint of a curving mouth. Leigh plays with lettering to great effect, using an ornate, slightly spooky font for the heading, a bold uppercase font with letters picked out in purple for the speech bubbles, and a lightly curved, smaller font for the larger blocks of text.
Readers more accustomed to nonfiction presented in blocks of text, rather than the more graphic-style layout of the text being fully incorporated into the artwork, may struggle with the colored backgrounds and tracking down all of the different speech bubbles, short paragraphs, and sections of information. However, kids who are used to the comic format will have no problem devouring this new style of nonfiction and will easily remember the cool facts they learn about caves throughout the book.
It’s always been ideal to have a mix of formats for kids to experience reading and gathering information and the growth of graphic formats in nonfiction is just one more tool for librarians and teachers to impart information. Leigh’s humor, fun artwork, and presentation of information, helpfully reinforcing key points, makes her work a must-have for most library and school nonfiction collections.
The Dark! Wild Life in the Mysterious World of Caves
By Lindsey Leigh
Penguin Random House, 2024
ISBN: 9780593662595
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11)
