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"Your presentation this morning was a revelation." Ann McCarthy, gifted teacher in Virginia |
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Archive for 2009
Comics boost literacy (like any children's picture book does!)
Written on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 [permanent link]The www.sciencedaily.com web site recently had a good overview of comix-and-literacy by Carol L. Tilley, a professor of library and information science at Illinois. Her analysis matches the points I try to get across to teachers and librarians and parents: that comics are just as sophisticated as other forms of literature, and children benefit from reading them at least as much as they do from reading other types of books.
If reading Dr. Seuss to kids at age 5 is good, then it’s good for that same kid to read Spider-Man at age 10. Comix shouldn’t be the only thing kids read, but if it’s the favorite form of reading for a child who would otherwise be playing a video game or watching TV, then let’s keep comix near him!
Why do we assume that reading a chapter book with no pictures is the highest form of literacy? A book without visual images does not look like the world I live in — a novel is actually an artificial construction, cutting off most of the information we use to navigate the real world (visuals, sound, interplay in conversation . . . ). In their own way, novels-without-pictures are as much an artificial environment as any video game — and can be as fun and as worthwhile to dive into as any video game, but why do we as a culture continue to assume that novels are superior to other forms of media?
Soon, articles like the one I’m linking to won’t appear because the category lines in children’s literature will have blurred so much. I try to blur that line in my author’s talks to students and in my teacher in-service training programs. I ask people to compare the page layout of a children’s book with pages from comix, and, like Tilley here, we can see the distinct comic book tools — frames, thought and speech bubbles, motion lines — being co-opted by children’s books, creating a hybrid format.
Here’s the whole article:
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091105121220.htm
Tags: Bentley Boyd, Chester Comix, Chester the Crab, comic book, literacy
Posted in literacy | No Comments »
Homeschool All-Stars cover
Written on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 [permanent link]
I’m in the homestretch for the homeschooler book! I’m hoping to get it to the printers this week. One of my favorite parts of making a new book is drawing the cover, which is a great moment to try to draw all the inside contents together.
This cover is a tribute to the Justice League of America comix I grew up on. Every year there would be a 2-issue crossover story featuring a whole pack of heroes, so their busts would appear around the edges of the cover to promote the story. To do an homage to that kind of kitchen-sink cover was a fun way for me to get out front more of the one-page bios. (I’m hoping this book will also sell at gift shops in the various museums dedicated to these folks.)
Unfortunately, this stage of the creative process is also the hardest for me emotionally. It’s where I don’t feel talented at ALL! Near the end I get really frustrated as I pull back and see the difference between what I have in my head and what appears on the page. (This used to happen even near the end of much shorter projects, such as the daily black and white political cartoon I drew from 1995 to 1999.) So I’m diving back in and trying to sharpen things up in these last few days — kind of a marathon runner’s last gasp push to cross the finish line strong!
Tags: Bentley Boyd, biography, Chester Comix, George Patton, graphic novel, history, homeschool, Teddy Roosevelt
Posted in Author's Purpose | No Comments »
Hooray for the Constitution!!
Written on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 [permanent link]
One of the teachers who brought her class to see me at James Madison’s Montpelier for Constitution Day ’09 sent me this snapshot! I am on the porch of Madison’s beautiful home after speaking to the kids and the gathered public — I lov…ed being between the Constitution and President Madison himself (played so well by John Douglas Hall). I’m such a history geek – this really was one of the most thrilling things I’ve done in my work to bring powdered wig history alive for today’s students! I MEAN IT!!!!
Tags: Bentley Boyd, Chester Comix, Chester the Crab, Constitution Day, James Madison, Montpelier
Posted in Author's Purpose | No Comments »
