From: Maggi Rohde <maggi>
Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2001 09:15:58 -0600 (MDT)

On Fri, 5 Oct 2001, Bowen, Brenda wrote:

I just revamped our comic section in our children's department, which until recently consisted of a pile of old Archie comics. We now have ten regular titles (monthly) in non-circulating binders, with back issues circulating. The titles I chose for our department are:

Archie (2 titles -- still popular) Bone Castle Waiting Akiko Usagi Yojimbo Cartoon Network Cartoons Powerpuff Girls Batman Adventures Pokemon (sorry)

While none of these are particularly "introductory" reading, they are all high-interest. I especially recommend Powerpuff Girls as funny, clever and non-offensive. Batman Adventures is a DC title for younger readers with less violence and more talking -- it's very well done too.

And I can't say enough about Castle Waiting, but that's not for beginning readers. The others are pretty accessible, especially with the pictures, but readers may wish to start "at the beginning" of the story by reading some graphic novel compilations (Bone, Akiko and Castle Waiting in particular).

The collection is too new to say whether or not our new readers are using it, but I think comics are a good choice for reluctant or non-readers.


Folks who ask for Tintin also ask for Asterix. I would place them in a visible location next to other comics or graphic novels for children to help them draw connections to new choices.

-Maggi Rohde, Children's Librarian
 Canton Public Library, Michigan
Received on Fri 05 Oct 2001 10:15:58 AM CDT