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"I like your series because I like reading about war and ancient cultures. It is fun and makes me smarter." Nick from Virginia |
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Posts Tagged ‘graphic novel’
New Ideas at Williams Elementary in Virginia Beach
Written on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 [permanent link]Every time I speak to students about my work as an author, I end the session as fired up as they are. I get a new idea, a new phrase, or a new drawing out of the brainstorming we do together, and my talk this week to fourth- and fifth-graders at Williams Elementary in Virginia Beach is a good look at how the process works. . .
First, the school purchased sets of my history comix for each classroom last spring. The teachers reported to me how excited the kids were to read them and how much their test scores improved last spring. So the audience was ready for me Tuesday! (One girl in the front row made a point to tell me, as the other students filed into the cafeteria, that her favorite title was “Slavery’s Storm.” I don’t think of that one as a feel-good favorite. But I was happy she found connection with my stories about the political and social struggles leading up to the Civil War.)
Speaking to about 200 fourth-graders in a big cafeteria is a challenge. But the microphone was great, and I could do my roaming among the rows of kids easily, peppering them with questions and trying to draw ideas with them. Here was one of my inventions for Williams: my fourth drawing in the talk is usually a drawing of me drawing a historical figure, who stands to the side and critiques my drawing. I’ve used George Washington (“My nose is NOT that big!”) and James Madison (“I am NOT that short!”) but for Williams I decided to draw Frederick Douglass and his awesome historical afro! The kids loved it — and, to my happiness, knew who Douglass was. That’s rare among American fourth-graders.
The fifth-graders in the afternoon session also threw me a curveball I’ve never faced. I put on the overhead my page about the Dred Scott decision, which features the black robe of the chief justice of the Supreme Court covering over the panels below it. I started the discussion of the page by asking, “What kind of person wears a black robe for their job?” One student said “Lincoln!” Hmmmm, he did wear a black longcoat . . . “George Washington!” Ummmm, yeah, we see him in a black heavy coat in the crossing of the Delaware, but what kind of job would a . . . “PREACHER!” Oh boy, I hadn’t thought of THAT one before!!! EXCELLENTLY broad cultural referencing there! My own preacher doesn’t wear a big robe, but many ministers in many other kids of churches do.
I laughed and then made my Judge Judy reference, and we were back on track.
Tags: Author's Purpose, Bentley Boyd, Chester Comix, comic book, Frederick Douglass, graphic novel, Virginia Beach, Williams Elementary
Posted in Author's Purpose | 2 Comments »
Back to School!
Written on Monday, September 28th, 2009 [permanent link]Welcome back to the future – if you’ve logged onto the Chester Comix homepage this month for the first time since school ended in June, you’ll see a lot of changes and a lot MORE content! Awesome designer, artist and Man About The Globe Brian Korte worked with me closely all summer to make this site easier to navigate and more fun to visit. THANKS, BRIAN! (Brian has his own fantastic business: making works of art out of Legos! Please visit his site to see his spectacular work: www.brickworkz.com)
My own calendar for the fall will see a lot of booksignings to support my newest title, the choose-your-own-path “Revolutionary City,” but no educational conferences. Those are a fun way to meet new educators and see the countryside from my little PT Cruiser, but for now I’m putting my oomph into national distribution networks. If your school has an account with Ingram Booksellers or Follett Library Resources, you can now get Chester Comix from those outlets.
I’m also drawing LOTS of new material! Over the past two years the chorus of teachers asking for a World War I book has grown, so that’s on my plate. The manuscript is done and being reviewed by historians now — I’m hoping to have the book published in time for the new World War I wing opening at the National Museum of the Marine Corps this spring.
I’m also trying to get a book about famous people who were homeschooled done within the next two months. It’s a nice survey of one-page biographies — people from General George Patton to President Woodrow Wilson to anthropologist Margaret Mead. It’s fun for me to also stretch myself towards subjects that I wouldn’t normally cover under the original mission of Chester’s stories (U.S. standardized test material) — in this book I get to profile non-Americans like Mary Leakey and Beatrix Potter! Here’s a sample rough draft page from the upcoming “Homeschool All-Stars.”
Tags: Ansel Adams, Bentley Boyd, Chester Comix, comic book, graphic novel, history, homeschool, rough draft
Posted in Author's Purpose | No Comments »
Back to Boston
Written on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 [permanent link]
In the first week of June, 2009, I went back to Boston with my sons for my 20th college reunion. The studying I did inside and outside the classroom really sharpened my love of history (I didn’t go to college planning to major in history — REALLY! But taking a few classes really sold me on it). I made sure that the bricks of Harvard Square weren’t the only bricks we hiked across . . .
Right after our flight landed, we hiked around downtown Boston. First stop: the Battle of Bunker Hill! Except that the monument stands on Breed’s Hill, which was the taller hill and better to defend. The Redcoats didn’t take Breed’s Hill until their third charge and paid a heavy price for this high ground. Which is now surrounded by very fancy townhomes. Samuel the Teenager bravely vowed to climb the 300 steps of the monument with his backpack on; I forebade it — and bravely volunteered to guard their backs at the bottom as they both went. They made it! And I didn’t!!!
Then we hiked down Breed’s Hill to the dock where the USS Constitution is being refurbished. Samuel instantly renamed “Old Ironsides” to be “Old Tarp Covering.”I learned a lot of things on our tour of the ship (which is still commissioned in the US Navy – it could go to war if we needed it!). Its guns recoil at 30 mph when fired. That’s a lot of recoil. So even when the captain calls for a “broadside,” they would fire only half the guns at once — firing all of them would tip the ship!
The USS Constitution is docked at what was the Charlestown Navy Yard until it closed in the early 1970s. We saw the drydocks created to clean up sailing ships but used all the way into the Cold War. I loved seeing the old cranes and equipment left at the dock. AND seeing what happens to history on waterfront property: the molding drydocks sit beneath old, smallish workshops of beautifully-worn brick, and both shipyard relics rest in the shadow of a giant new brick and glass condo!!!
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Tags: author, Bentley Boyd, Boston, Chester the Crab, Constitution, graphic novel, Harvard, history, history comics, Massachusetts, Old Ironsides
Posted in Historical Travel | No Comments »
