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From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 10:06:39 -0400
I just vowed to someone that I wouldn't monopolize this discussion, but I cannot resist so here are a few more favorites, a few more comments, and a direct plea to book creators.
Favorites for older readers: Art Spiegelman's Maus I and Maus II.
Raymond Briggs' Ethel & Ernest: A True Story.
Ben Katchor's Julius Knipfl, Real Estate Photographer and The Jew of New York .
Neil Gaiman's Sandman series ...pretty much anything by Neil Gaiman!
More favorites for upper elementary kids:
Raymond Brigg's Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age & His Search for Soft Trousers.
Two semi-graphic novels of Philip Pullman: Spring-Heeled Jack (illustrated by David Mostyn) which is available in the US and Count Karlstein or the Ride of the Demon Huntsman (illustrated Patrice Aggs) which I don't think is (as I picked up my copy in the UK and see no mention of it on amazon.com). These are incredibly clever stories which combine text with comic illustrations. Delightful! (There is another version of Count Karlstein available in the US, but it is quite different from the graphic novel one.)
Someone suggested Jules Feiffer's Meanwhile, but I think of that as still a picture book as I do Sendak's In the Night Kitchen. (Sendak, I seem to recall is/was heavily influenced by comics. I remember seeking out Little Nemo in Slumberland after he mentioned it.) Elsewhere Gaiman's two wonderful picture books (illustrated by Dave McKean), The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish and The Wolves in the Wall, have been suggested, but again I don't think of them as comic/graphic novels. For me comics and graphic novels contain pages with lots and lots of small pictures bringing you, the reader, through the story. They seem designed to be read alone
(although my students do read them in pairs and trios) not aloud. You can read them aloud, but it is hard and I wouldn't even attempt it with my whole class. Different from picture books with comic book elements that still can be read aloud to a large group.
And here is my plea to book creators: I really want to see more more graphic novels and comics for middle and upper elementary kids. I want teachers to consider them more as great transitional books for kids moving from picture-heavy stories to those with mostly or all text. I want book sellers to set up graphic novel sections for this age group. For some reason this genre is seen largely as YA and so it is a largely untapped area for younger kids. Publishers and editors: how about a graphic novel series for middle grade kids a la the Time Warp Trio or the Bunnicula/Tales from the House of Bunnicula books? Or do them as stand alone chapter books. Do you know how much my kids and others love the Klise books (Regarding the Fountain et al); I bet the same readers would lap up graphic novels. Get some of those artists and writers who did work in the Little Lit books to do them! Or anyone else who has an itch in that direction!
Okay, I'll try to shut up now.
Monica
PS Marty: would you email me again as I inadvertently deleted your email before responding!
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Sun 11 Apr 2004 09:06:39 AM CDT
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 10:06:39 -0400
I just vowed to someone that I wouldn't monopolize this discussion, but I cannot resist so here are a few more favorites, a few more comments, and a direct plea to book creators.
Favorites for older readers: Art Spiegelman's Maus I and Maus II.
Raymond Briggs' Ethel & Ernest: A True Story.
Ben Katchor's Julius Knipfl, Real Estate Photographer and The Jew of New York .
Neil Gaiman's Sandman series ...pretty much anything by Neil Gaiman!
More favorites for upper elementary kids:
Raymond Brigg's Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age & His Search for Soft Trousers.
Two semi-graphic novels of Philip Pullman: Spring-Heeled Jack (illustrated by David Mostyn) which is available in the US and Count Karlstein or the Ride of the Demon Huntsman (illustrated Patrice Aggs) which I don't think is (as I picked up my copy in the UK and see no mention of it on amazon.com). These are incredibly clever stories which combine text with comic illustrations. Delightful! (There is another version of Count Karlstein available in the US, but it is quite different from the graphic novel one.)
Someone suggested Jules Feiffer's Meanwhile, but I think of that as still a picture book as I do Sendak's In the Night Kitchen. (Sendak, I seem to recall is/was heavily influenced by comics. I remember seeking out Little Nemo in Slumberland after he mentioned it.) Elsewhere Gaiman's two wonderful picture books (illustrated by Dave McKean), The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish and The Wolves in the Wall, have been suggested, but again I don't think of them as comic/graphic novels. For me comics and graphic novels contain pages with lots and lots of small pictures bringing you, the reader, through the story. They seem designed to be read alone
(although my students do read them in pairs and trios) not aloud. You can read them aloud, but it is hard and I wouldn't even attempt it with my whole class. Different from picture books with comic book elements that still can be read aloud to a large group.
And here is my plea to book creators: I really want to see more more graphic novels and comics for middle and upper elementary kids. I want teachers to consider them more as great transitional books for kids moving from picture-heavy stories to those with mostly or all text. I want book sellers to set up graphic novel sections for this age group. For some reason this genre is seen largely as YA and so it is a largely untapped area for younger kids. Publishers and editors: how about a graphic novel series for middle grade kids a la the Time Warp Trio or the Bunnicula/Tales from the House of Bunnicula books? Or do them as stand alone chapter books. Do you know how much my kids and others love the Klise books (Regarding the Fountain et al); I bet the same readers would lap up graphic novels. Get some of those artists and writers who did work in the Little Lit books to do them! Or anyone else who has an itch in that direction!
Okay, I'll try to shut up now.
Monica
PS Marty: would you email me again as I inadvertently deleted your email before responding!
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Sun 11 Apr 2004 09:06:39 AM CDT
