Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at 09:38PM Okay, it is rather cool to be featured in an article in ISU's Report Newsletter. The article is about the Comics and Graphic Novels class I'm teaching again this spring, and still enjoying teaching it. Here's a link to the article "Susina on the evolution of the graphic novel."
Friday, October 8, 2010 at 09:44AM In "Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children," an article in today's New York Times, a few 
bookpublishers, writers, and parents observe that there's a trend to leave behind picture books for the "challenge" of chapter books. Is this a good trend? I'm not so sure.
Picture books often are more engaging and interesting than some of the chapter books that may appear more "grown up" to adults and the kids whom they are encouraging to read. I think this observation is correct:
“To some degree, picture books force an analog way of thinking,” said Karen Lotz, the publisher of Candlewick Press in Somerville, Mass. “From picture to picture, as the reader interacts with the book, their imagination is filling in the missing themes.”
Picture books involve children's and adults' imagination, enable everyone to develop storytelling skills, and enhance visual literacy. I think that developing visual literacy and understanding children's visual culture is so important that I'm teaching a graduate course on that this semester.
I do think that publishers are making a mistake of publishing many picture books in hard cover with a high 
price tag. The marketing format of Golden Books -- good books at low price points that are sold at the checkout counter or other easy to find places -- should be followed again today. Too often big stores, such as Target and Wal-Mart, sell primarily TV and movie tie-ins or extremely popular books. Children's book publishers should be more aggressive in promoting inexpensive, high-quality picture books in paperback to these types of stores. Scholastic does this in schools, but many pre-schools don't have the Scholastic connections. Grandparents and aunts and uncles also usually don't get the Scholastic fliers. Scholastic, of course, has its own consumeristic tendencies, but at least it always sells a few books that are priced at $5 or less.
The tendency for parents to think that chapter books are better than picture books suggests, perhaps, that parents aren't reading all of the popular chapter books, either. Instead of reading another Magic Tree House book, parents, teachers, and librarians should make the effort to get elementary school kids to read engaging non-fiction picture books -- such as The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley and drawings by Brian Selznick, The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth by Kathleen Krull and illustrated by Greg Couch, or books by the incredibly imaginative Peter Sis, such as The Three Golden Keys and The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain. Or here's a good link from a recent School Library Journal article on "Inventions: Waiting for Eureka" that mentions several similar type books including The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors by Chris Barton illustrated by Tony Persiani, which was a fun read, and Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor, written and illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully.
It's curious that at the same time that there's an interest by male readers 18-34 in graphic novels and comics, the adults that are guiding the youngest readers are insisting that books that comprise mainly of text are the way to go. But readers of graphic novels and comics are clearly sensitive to price points, as yesterday's report at New York's Comic-Con on these readers has noted. It's curious that just a 20 cent change in price point causes a significant decrese in purchases: "The complaint of high prices was discussed as well, along with the statistics that the average cover price of a comic book in the second quarter of 2010 is now $3.53, up from $3.38 in 2009." Maybe the picture book publishers should take heed and publish more paper backs at more reasonable prices.
Because, like it or not, we live in a culture that's as much visual driven as word driven. Kids instinctively know that. To take away their ability to learn through picture books that combine visuals and words for chapter books seems counter-intuitive by adults.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 08:23AM Is it good or appropriate for boys to read comics? Is reading comics really 'reading'? The debate continues with the Canadian Council on Learning weighing in with a report last month about the positive experience of kids
reading comics. The report specifically notes: "Despite their controversial past, comics have become a pervasive and undeniable aspect of popular culture. It is clear that they appeal to younger readers—particularly boys—who are often resistant to reading."
The report, "More than just funny books: Comics and prose literacy for boys", observes that boys are interested in and read about different subjects than what are traditionally considered 'reading.' The authors write, "Boys also tend to prefer visual media, such as the internet, newspapers and magazines, that focus on sports, electronics and video games. Yet, while boys show clear preferences for specific reading material these genres and media are generally under-represented or even unavailable in school libraries, a reflection of the views of teachers and librarians who judge such material inappropriate."
The Carolina Online Journal, based in Charlotte, did a follow up report and found librarians who were dismissive of comics, and a few who understood their appeal. In the article that's published today, Hal Young also interviewed a psychologist who's concerned about the limited role models in comics when transferred to film while a special education teacher understood that comics are much broader in scope than they initially may appear. The teacher cited Max Axiom: Super Scientist comics as some that have particular appeal while also teaching about science.
It seems that the question continues of what constitutes 'real' or 'appropriate' reading. Yet, the problem remains that boys continue to lag behind girls in reading scores. Here are a few links on the difference in reading skills of boys and girls:
The curious debate about comic books continues as boys still struggle with reading and could benefit from looking at texts with images.
Thanks to Chester Comix for the link to the Carolina article.
Monday, April 26, 2010 at 02:52PM 
Free Comic Book Day is always a highlight of spring. My family and I love an excuse to hang out at our local 
Acme Comicscomic book store, Acme Comics, and see what's new. We're always surprised at all the cool comic books and stuff that's FREE.
Two weeks ago we missed the special day supporting independent record stores, but we did get some free things while hanging out after the Ebert Fest at Exile on Main Street in Champaign. Great samples.
Even though we all like to find interesting items on the web and on eBay, it's still important to support your local stores. These places create wonderful environments to share ideas in real time -- not virtual reality. Just like in libraries, I especially enjoy just perusing the stacks to see what might pop out. I have found great comic books by browsing and also by listening to people's conversations in the stores.