I've got a friend who recently began teaching English to high school students in San Francisco and is thinking of assigning graphic novels to his kids.  Any suggestions?

Here's a little background: the guy teaches 9th and 10th grade English in one of those classic "inner city" schools full of under achievers.  One class, in particular, is made up almost entirely of immigrant students who were either born in the US or immigrated as children.  Their English is fluent, but at home they speak Chinese, Tagalog, or some other Asian language.  The result is that their English skills, especially in the area of reading, are well below average.   

To placate the African American sensibilities of some of the students, the prior teacher assigned the 1950s play, "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry.  But it's so over the heads of most students that not only are they not making progress on the play's text, they wouldn't even sit still when my friend tried to get them to watch the play on video, promising that if they'd only sit through the damn thing, they wouldn't have to finish reading the written text.  So you can see what he's up against.

I initially suggested that he try having the kids read Maus, but he said they've already done the Holocaust to death (no pun intended). Although I have not read it, I suggested Barefoot Gen, but he immediately vetoed it: being of non-Japanese extraction, these kids would have little empathy for Japanese travails in WWII, he said, since their parents and grandparents were the victims of the Japanese of that era.  

I stopped by my local comic shop in Santa Cruz and took a brief gander at American Born Chinese -- I hope I have the title correct.  What do people think of that?  Are there any other suggestions? 

And remember -- whatever gets suggested should be able to weather the scrutiny of a high school principal.  The latest X-men extravaganza might not make the cut.