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Comics 101 -
Recommended Reading
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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 03 November 2012 00:00 |
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So you're new to comics and you're not sure where to start. Everyone tells you to read Watchmen, but you're not really into superheroes. What books should you start with?
We've assembled a brief list below that will get you started. Of course, our list is long and we had to abbreviate it so people would actually read it, so I'll probably come back later and make a second, third and fourth list. I've tried to get you a cross section of comics that show to diversity and potential of the medium as well as address contemporary issues. I have purposely left superhero books of the list.
 Maus
This book is often referred to as a Graphic Novel, but it is really a memoir. Art Speiglman began interviewing his father about his experiences in the Holocaust and adapted these interviews into a comic book that was serialized in RAW magazine. It is a book that is as much about Speiglman trying to understand his relationship with his father as it is about the Holocaust.
Hicksville
I stated earlier in this article that I wasn’t going to list any superhero books. This one almost breaks the rule, because it centers around Leonard Batts who travels to Hickville, New Zealand to interview the residents about the famed comic book artist Dick Burger. Burger grew up in Hickville, a town in which every single person makes comic books. Burger became famous for his work on the comic book, Captain Tomorrow.
While Hicksville is not a superhero book, like the Dark Knight Returns or Watchmen, it does discuss and critique the superhero genre- especially the gory excesses of the 1990s.
 The Arrival
Many times we think of the fantasy genre as being an escape instead of commenting on society. According to Shaun Tan, his fantasy world comments on the issues of human migration. His imagery alludes to photographs of Ellis Island during the early 20th century. All language is rendered in an indecipherable language to put the reader in the shoes of an immigrant coming to a new land with little knowledge of language, culture and customs.
 American Born Chinese
Gene Yang tackles the issues that arise from being a second generation immigrant. I often have students read this book after reading the Arrival, because it seems like the next thematic step. If The Arrival is about immigrating, American Born Chinese is about how the children of immigrants navigate the nuisances of your parent's culture and the culture of the new place of residence.
Yang's multi-layered book includes a new perspective on the traditional monkey king character from Chinese mythology, as well as looks at classic stereotypes through Yang's character, Ching Kee. Yang has created a post-modern coming-of-age-story as he deftly weaves the issues of cultural tradition and stereotypes with more universal themes of growing up and trying to find acceptance amongst one's peers. |
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Last Updated on Sunday, 04 November 2012 13:01 |
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Common Core -
Primary
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Written by Jay Peteranetz
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Sunday, 21 October 2012 00:00 |
 Owly is a dialogue-free comic book. While that might, seem to be a drawback for literacy teachers, it is not. The book is a template for writing and discussing literature. Andy Runton, the author, uses pantomime to tell a story that is both easily understood and read.
The first Owly story in Andy Runton’s collection is titled, “The Way Home.” In this story, Owly meets his friend Wormy. Wormy is lost and sick when Owly meets him. Owly heals him and helps him get home to his parents. When Owly leaves Wormy’s home, Wormy joins him, and they become friends and roommates throughout the rest of the Owly stories. The plot of “The Way Home” is how Owly heals his own loneliness by helping someone else in need that results in finding a friend, Wormy.
The usefulness of Owly for the early reader is in allowing a student to interpret and write the story for him or herself, which can encompass standards 2, 3, 6, and 7.
Each page of Owly is set up in a three-tier panel making it easy for a reader to follow the standard left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading pattern. The two exceptions both involve Wormy “talking.” Talking is used loosely in this context, since the characters don’t speak in words, they speak in pictures. Runton’s story with use of pictures allows a reader to tell, discuss, or write the story within the pages of Owly (CCSS 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 10). Just as in Little Mouse Gets Ready, each word balloon in Owly is a single thought, making the “dialogue” very easy to read and write. Symbols such as exclamation points, question marks, and equal signs are used throughout the story to portray emotion and volume (CCSS 4). When a student is reading the book aloud in a classroom or to a parent (CCSS 10), the use of the illustrations accompanying the symbols permits an easy and personalized interpretation of the symbol’s meaning. For example, when Runton introduces the symbols on the second page of the book, we see small birds eating seeds from a dish. Owly emerges from the bushes with a bag in hand and one of the birds warns the others with a large, bold exclamation point in a word balloon. In the next panel, the birds fly off. The panel where the birds fly gives context to the exclamation point. The reader understands the bird’s exclamation point implied, “WATCH OUT!” or “FLY AWAY!” All the reader needs to know is that the bird was telling the others to get away. It’s in these ways that Owly is read. It is the direct relationship between the pictures and the punctuation in the word balloons that make Owly entertaining, easy, and interpretive for young readers.
Runton has put teaching packets on his website for free download at andyrunton.com. Everyone can pick up the Owly books and view the pictures, read the comic, and discuss the content and themes within each story.
Reading Standards for Literature Grade 1:
1. Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
2. Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
3. Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
4. Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
5. Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.
6. Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.
7. Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
8. (Not applicable to literature)
9. Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.
10. With prompting and support, read prose and poetry of appropriate complexity for grade 1.
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Last Updated on Sunday, 21 October 2012 15:17 |
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Common Core -
Primary
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Written by Jay Peteranetz
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Monday, 08 October 2012 18:22 |
 Little Mouse Gets Ready is about a small mouse putting on people clothes to go to the barn. Simple sentences, repetitive action, and image-to-text relationships make it ideal for an early reader. In this story, Little Mouse carefully puts on underwear, pants, socks, shoes and a button-down shirt. But when Mama tells him, “(m)ice don’t wear clothes," he quickly sheds them all and runs off to the barn. Each page in this book is a maximum of two panels, and that only occurs when Mouse is repeating the same action or finishing an action. The young reader is able to visually complete an action before turning the page. The subject matter, a young mouse putting on clothes, also teaches young readers how to properly dress themselves.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
The students can discuss the main topic and details within the text by describing how Little Mouse gets dressed and goes to the barn.
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
CCSS 3 can be met if the students can identify Little Mouse and Mama as different individuals and engage heightened language with the characters. A brief classroom discussion may help student realize that the two events are Little Mouse getting dressed and then jumping out of his clothes to run to the barn.
6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
The Kindergarten reading standards state: "With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story." CCSS 6 can be met if students can identify that the author/illustrator is Jeff Smith and his roles for the book encompass both author and illustrator.
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficient
This book also allows students to read aloud therefore discussing the meaning of the text and reasoning for the images that go along with them.
This book allows students to practice their foundational reading skills. The word balloons are placed top-to-bottom left-to-right in reading order, and the text within the word balloons is similar. With only three exceptions, each word balloon is only a single sentence, making it very easy for a learning reader to separate sentences. This technique is unique to the sequential art medium at this grade level. Illustrated kindergarten level books put all the text on the page in the same block, making it difficult, especially for early readers, to understand sentence breaks and to understand dialog as separate from description. The paneling requires the least amount of closure because the author finishes an action on each page. There is only one scene, Little Mouse getting dressed, so students don’t have to identify a new place, describe the imagery, talk about what the author/illustrator did, and so on. It is a well thought out, simple book for the earliest of readers.
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Printable Projects
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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 21 September 2012 19:10 |
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This year I began the year telling the kids about the Fantastic Four. I explained about how each member of the team had special strengths and weakness and when they all worked together, these strengths and weaknesses balanced each other out. Then, I gave them the following handout. I asked the students to think about what their imaginary strength or super power might be and also what their real "super power" is. At the end of each class, I've been picking two kids that have been acting fantastic and also asking the class to pick two more kids that they saw being fantastic. It all adds up to a Fantastic Four for each class.
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