Hennessey, J., & McConnell, A. (2008). The United States Constitution: A graphic adaptation. New York: Hill and Wang. ISBN-13: 978-0-8090-9470-7
Why read this book
Having trouble making sense of all that old-fashioned, legal language in the U.S. Constitution? Read this graphic presentation that explains the Constitution in modern English.
Summary
This graphic presentation is a primer on the Constitution rather than the Constitution itself, which is not included in its original wording. The book includes a background section the summarizes the War for Independence and the Articles of Confederation, explanations of the preamble and each of the seven articles of the constitution, and explanations of each of the 27 amendments.
Critical evaluation
The goals of a graphic primer on the United States Constitution for high school readers should be (1) to explain the Constitution clearly in contemporary language and (2) to provide clever illustrations that add meaning to the words. It would be good if in addition both the text and the artwork had a sense of humor. Hennessey and McConnell’s work leaves quite a bit to be desired on the two primary goals and doesn’t even make a stab at adding humor.
Lack of clarity in the written text comes both in the choice of language and in the organization of the ideas. Hennessey employs the same unfriendly writing style that conventional high school history textbooks use. Take this randomly selected example:
This is called judicial review, and it can override the will of a citizen, a state government, Congress, the President, even a majority of the people. Judicial review, or the license to interpret the Constitution, is probably the best-known grant of power by the people to the judicial branch (p 68).
The federal courts have a power that is greater than any other part of government. The federal courts can throw out decisions by state governments, by the U.S. Congress, by the U.S. President, and even laws created directly by a vote of the people if the courts decide the decision violates the Constitution. This power is called “judicial review.”
The following pages of the primer, which try to explain how Marbury v. Madison established the practice of judicial review (p. 68-71), are an unfortunate example of the lack of clarity in both the text and the artwork. The text left me thoroughly confused, and I already knew what Marbury v. Madison is about. The graphic that introduces the section has no meaningful relationship that I could see to the topic at hand. As the text introduces the 1800 presidential election and the subsequent Marbury v. Madison Supreme Court case, the image shows rainswept streets in some vaguely late-19th century city. The streetlights are way post-1800, and the connection between the scene and the story about to be told completely eludes me.
Several of the major recurring visual symbols of primer are also quite weak. In sections where the relationship between the state and the federal governments is explained, McConnell uses birds to represent the states. I think teenagers are likely to find that weird rather than interesting or entertaining, and I don’t see how birds help convey the concepts in the text. Similarly, McConnell represents the branches of the federal government as men in suits that have buildings for heads (Congress for the legislative, the White House for the executive, and the Supreme Court for the judicial). Again, the images are not particularly useful in conveying the concepts involved. If they are intended to add humor, I think they fail there as well.
Some students will find the information in this primer easier to digest than a conventional text-only narrative, but I think the publishers have missed a big chance to reach a wider audience. More thoughtful writing and more clever art would make the investment in a class set of these primers worthwhile, but as they are, they don’t seem particularly useful to me.
About the creators
The limited information I found about writer Jonathan Hennessey and artist Aaron McConnell does not indicate any expertise in teaching, in history, or in political science, which may explain the mediocre nature of their work on the U.S. Constitution. Hennessey’s bio on the publisher’s Web site references his work on films in Hollywood, and the Internet Movie Database lists Hennessey as the writer and director of a feature film called An Evening of Christian Radio (1999); as second unit director or assistant director on eight films and television episodes, ranging from Playboy: Girls of Mardi Gras (1999) to Pumpkin (2002); and as miscellaneous crew on eight other films and television episodes (Jonathan Hennessey, n.d.a). For Aaron McConnell, the publisher’s Web site reports only that “Aaron McConnell is a freelance illustrator living in Oregon” (Aaron McConnell, n.d.).
Neither the publisher’s Web site nor Amazon.com lists any other publications for either Hennessey or McConnell, but the American Constitution Society blog has recently published a five-part series they created called “We the Patients: Health Care Reform and the Constitution” (Hennessey & McConnell, 2009). This series continues the visual style of The United States Constitution, including the branches of government illustrated as men in suits with buildings for heads.
Genre: Graphic non-fiction, Historical non-fiction
Curriculum ties
The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adoption could be used in any history course or government course that requires students to read and understand the U.S. Constitution. Some students will find it easier to learn information from this primer than from a conventional textbook, but many students will find it only slightly more accessible.
Book-talking ideas
• Make the most of the silly men in business suits with buildings for heads by projecting a series of their images from the book. Explain that this is the way the authors present all the key concepts in the Constitution and ask students to check out for themselves if this is more interesting than reading their textbooks.
Reading level/interest age
In California, the U.S. Constitution is taught in 8th grade U.S. history classes, 11th grade U.S. history classes, and 12th grade American government classes. The primer will probably work as well for this range of students as their conventional textbooks.
Challenge issues
The primer attempts to be neutral in its presentations of controversial issues such as gun control and women’s right to abortion, but partisans on these issues might find biases in the writing and artwork.
Responses
• Remind the challenger of the policy (in the case of the San Francisco Public Library) to present “all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”
Why I chose to read this book
I first heard of this book during the class presentations on various genres of youth-adult materials. Shortly afterward a teacher I work with mentioned that she uses it in her class, so I decided to check it out.
References
Aaron McConnell. (n.d.). macmillan. Retrieved November 21, 2009, from http://us.macmillan.com/author/aaronmcconnell
Hennessey, J., & McConnell, A. (2009, September 14). We the patients: Health care reform and the Constitution. American Constitution Society Blog. Retrieved November 21, 2009, from http://www.acslaw.org/node/14107
Jonathan Hennessey. (n.d.a). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 21, 2009, from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0377257/
Jonathan Hennessey. (n.d.b). macmillan. Retrieved November 21, 2009, from http://us.macmillan.com/author/jonathanhennessey
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