To watch: ALA’s Graphic Novel webinar
When you have an hour to spare you could do worse than watch this webinar presented by Booklist and the American Library Association on the subject of "graphic novels and their increasing importance for the mix of reading material in public and school libraries, including contributions from folks from Lerner Publishing and SLG." Via Forbidden Planet International
Continue ReadingThe ALA covered a lot of comics
The annual American LIbrary Association wrapped up its annual meeting yesterday and, as the above photo suggests, there was abundant graphic novel programming and presence. Our own Torsten Adair was there, and he blogged of many things, like the Dabel Brothers new imprint, Sea Lion Press:
Continue ReadingCore list of graphic novels covers the basics
Graphic Novel Reporter, the resource site for book industry professionals, has released a list of "core" graphic novels that librarians and store owners should consider basics to carry. The list starts with a basic ten book list:
Continue ReadingSchool library votes to keep BONE on the shelves
After a Minnesota mother challenged her school library on keeping Jeff Smith's BONE on its shelves -- citing smoking, drinking gambling and sexy innuendo as reasons it wasn't fit for kids -- the library board voted 10-1 to keep Bone on the shelves. The mother still objected to the books, but brought her two sons to the meeting, explaining that "It's important for them to see the process of how books are chosen," she said. Removing the book from 12 of the the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district's 18 libraries would have been a very rare step -- only 20 books have been challenged in the past 20 years, the last being "All But Alice," by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, which was removed in 1997.
Continue ReadingC2E2: Reading with Pictures
Share this link on Facebook!Tweet Reading with Pictures (Booth 1468), an advocacy organization which promotes learning to read via comics, has a pretty big slate of programming at C2E2: FRIDAY Room E352, 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM A Brief History of Cartoons,Comics and Graphic Novels: Putting It All Into Context It may seem like the term “graphic novel” has [...]
Continue ReadingAre comics the last hope for boys?
Why are comics such a boys club? is a familiar complaint in comics circles. Examples of how mainstream comics seemingly go out of their way to alienate women readers, and reinforce insensitive handling of female characters (the famous "Women in refrigerators" thesis) are easy to come by, and easy to scorn. But while we're quite sympathetic to these complaints, and are often found lodging them ourselves, a recent study suggests that comics may very well be one of the last bastions of male literacy.
Continue ReadingManga for…grown-ups?
Share this link on Facebook!Tweet While the online manga world continues to fret about whether manga will ever grow up, Chris Butcher spots some evidence in TIME Magazine: Meanwhile, Time Magazine is running an article on the guilty pleasures of famous authors. #1? Why it’s Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Diaz talking about his love of Naoki Urasawa’s [...]
Continue ReadingBrit warns comics are only hope of stopping those pesky girls
Share this link on Facebook!Tweet An English educator who has written government literacy reports recommends comics such as THE BEANO and DANDY as tools to get boys to read, in a desperate bid to catch up with girls, who apparently soak up the books like a hoard of vast omnivorous sponges: Mr Brown said that Japanese-style [...]
Continue ReadingColumns: Gender, stores, soaps
Share this link on Facebook!Tweet§ Kristy Valenti has the second part of her Gender and Reading Habits examination up, this time the girls are scrutinized, although more is known of their reading habits in general than comics reading habits specifically: Additionally, women read more, maintained USA Today while discussing a 2007 poll: “the median figure — [...]
Continue ReadingSchool Library Journal graphic novel section
Share this link on Facebook!TweetSchool Library Journal is a magazine aimed at…school librarians. It just had a big cover ppackage on graphic novels which you can read online, started with Michelle Gorman’s overview What a difference a decade makes. After years of fighting for shelf space in libraries and classrooms, graphic novels have finally become an [...]
Continue ReadingYALSA's Top Ten GN's for Teen
Share this link on Facebook!TweetYALSA, the young adult librarian society, has picked it top grahpic novels of 07: Abadzis, Nick. Laika. First Second Carey, Mike. Re-Gifters. DC/Minx Fleming, Ann Marie. The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam. Penguin Group Giffen, Keith. Blue Beetle: Shell-shocked. DC Comics Blue Beetle: Road Trip. DC Comics Iwahara, Yuji. King of Thorn, vol. 1-2. Tokyopop Loux, Matthew. [...]
Continue ReadingComic Books in the Classroom: all the rage?
Share this link on Facebook!TweetWe knew it! Barely a week after looking at comics as teaching aids, The New York Times is back with a freaking EDITORIAL saying how great comics are as teaching aids: The point is not to drop a comic book on a child’s desk and say: “read this.” Rather, the workshops [...]
Continue ReadingMust reading: Can children learn from comics?
Share this link on Facebook!TweetWe’re always hearing about how comics are a great tool for literacy (and those among us who learned to read from comics would back this up) but how are comics being accepted in the educational field? The New York Times investigates with an article that includes many yaysayers, but also [...]
Continue ReadingAcademic Libraries discover graphic novels
Share this link on Facebook!TweetKaren Green, Columbia University’s Ancient/Medieval Studies Librarian and Graphic Novel selector starts a blog at Comixology explains how an Ivy league university starts collecting graphic novels: University libraries tend to get their books from large vendors according to a subject outline known as an approval plan, and let’s just say that Columbia’s [...]
Continue ReadingYALSA list is up
Share this link on Facebook!TweetThe final nominations for YALSA’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens list is up. Via David Welsh, who has analysis, as does Blog@. Tokypop and DC Comics lead the final nominations for the Young Adult Library Services Association’s annual list of Great Graphic Novels For Teens with 23 nods each. DC’s nominations include titles from [...]
Continue ReadingOur Sponsors
CLASSIFIEDS
RECENT COMMENTS