From: Davidla <davidla>
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 10:27:11 +0800

Monica wrote:

The Encyclopedia of Comics names the Yellow Kid as the first comic (sorry, my copy is in storage and the author escapes me). But Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics goes as far back as Egyptian hieroglyphs and the Bayeaux tapestry as he defines the roots of comics in sequential art.

My grade 7 & 8 community read Maus I and II this year in our WWII study. I used a very abbreviated Scott McCloud-history to introduce graphic novels as literature. We also talked about comic conventions (how the author/artist communicates through the shape of call outs, borders, pacing, fonts, etc.) so that students would make a careful reading of Maus. They loved it. I loved it. I tried really hard to break my students of the habit of calling it a comic book so that parents wouldn't be prejudiced against it, but I received a lot of positive feedback when parents saw the novel and the depth of understanding their kids came away with; they were pleased and impressed. I've got a few of my kids reading Pedro and Me and Persopolis on their own.

*I'm hoping to use A Thousand Ships: Age of Bronze, Volume One (Shanower) for grade nine world history. Anyone know it?*

Peace,

David Larson Concordia International School Shanghai
Received on Tue 13 Apr 2004 09:27:11 PM CDT