Teaching With Comics
NINA in THAT MAKES ME MAD
By Chris Wilson Editor-in-Geek STORY REVIEW Everything makes little Nina mad. She gets upset when her parents don’t know what she likes, when she gets blamed for something she didn’t do, when she tries hard and others do not, when grown-ups don’t let her help, when she does something nice and no one notices and especially when she has to wait.
THE SHARK KING
By Tegan Conner Staff Writer STORY REVIEW A young woman named Kalei is out searching for food one day somewhere in Hawaii. A great wave comes up and washes her into the ocean. A mysterious stranger whom she falls in love with rescues her. Together, they have a child. Just a day before the child is born, Kalei discovers the man she loves is really the Shark King.
Lead a Comics Workshop, Even if You Can’t Draw!
Comic Books – A Pathway to Learning By: Jerzy Drozd This resource is designed to help budget-conscious librarians and educators lead comics workshops without the aid of a cartoonist, but it can also be used as a starting point for cartoonists who are interested in doing more teaching. It is primarily geared for teaching grades 3-5, though many of the lesson plans contain modification ideas for higher and lower grade levels. It’s also designed as something that can be used to supplement an art curriculum as well as support for core curriculum subjects like reading, science, and math. One of the […] Read More
THE FLYING BEAVER BROTHERS AND THE FISHY BUSINESS
By Tegan Conner Staff Writer STORY REVIEW When Ace and Bub wind up in a tree thanks to their new penguin friends, they make an awful discovery: a volcano is on their island. They are pretty sure it wasn’t there the day before; so, they decide to investigate. What they find are literally fish out of water (wearing a water suit of sorts), harvesting trees, polluting the island, all in the name of a tiny product called “Fish Stixs.”
MUSH: SLED DOGS WITH ISSUES
By Kevin Hodgson Staff Writer STORY SUMMARY In an isolated part of Alaska, a team of sled dogs lives with two humans. The humans squabble over the state of their isolation as the dogs squabble over who is going to be the lead dog, and who might get a chance to mate with whom. Add in some talk about existentialism (by the dogs) and survival (by the humans), and you get an odd story.
THE SIGN OF FOUR
By Adrian Neibauer Staff Writer STORY REVIEW The SIGN OF FOUR is a graphic adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic mystery featuring Sherlock Holmes and his partner, Dr. John H. Watson. Part of their Crime Classics line of comic literature, British graphic novel and manga publishing company, SelfMadeHero, set out to adapt not only THE SIGN OF FOUR, but THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, and STUDY IN SCARLETT, and THE VALLEY OF FEAR. Each novel is a must have for any fan of Holmes’ mysteries.
WONDER WOMAN: THE CIRCLE and ENDS OF THE EARTH
By Chris Wilson Editor-in-GeekREVIEW Wonder Woman is one of my all time favorite mainstream comic book characters. The search for strong female characters, after all, was the driving force behind my decision to read comics in the first place. I’ve always loved the idea of comic book characters, but I was not a comic reader as a kid for two reasons: The nasty not-real-reading stereotype, and the off-putting art styles of the 70s and 80s. Why were so many walls, tights and other various things pink? Pink!
RESISTANCE: BOOK 1
By Nate Stearns Staff Writer Even though I am an English teacher, I’ve always loved history and have harbored more than a little jealousy towards my colleagues who get to steer students through The Punic Wars, The Italian Renaissance, and the Disco Era. There’s a scene in the seminal movie about teaching Teachers (with Nick Nolte) when the history teacher, who just happens to be a literally crazy man who wanders in off the street, dresses up as George Washington and has his entire class re-enact the crossing of the Delaware: students are frantically rowing and looking out for Redcoat […] Read More
THE UNSINKABLE WALKER BEAN
By Kevin Hodgson Staff Wrier STORY SUMMARY & REVIEW THE UNSINKABLE WALKER BEAN is a tour de force of storytelling and art as Aaron Renier really nails the whole concept of young boy embarking on an adventure of a lifetime. Unsinkable, indeed. Here, the young Walker Bean is racing against the clock to return a stolen “skull” to the bottom of the ocean before the magical witches who guard their treasure horde come to get the skull.
MAGIC TRIXIE
By Tracy Edmunds Staff Writer Author: Jill Thompson Illustrator: Jill Thompson Publisher: HarperCollins Genre: Fantasy Format: Softcover Pages: 93 Color: Full color ISBN-13: 978-0061170454 STORY SYNOPSIS Magic Trixie has a problem; everyone loves her baby sister, Abby Cadabra, and no one is paying attention to Magic Trixie! On top of that, she has to come up with a “wow” for show and tell day at Monstersorri School to impress her friends; Loupe Garou, the sassy werewolf girl; Stitch Patch, the sweet Frankenstein’s monster; and Nefi, the beautiful mummy girl. When Magic Trixie finds a way to fix both problems at […] Read More