Older than Dirt: A Wild but True History of Earth by Don Brown and Mike Perfit; illus. by Don Brown Intermediate, Middle School Houghton 104 pp. g 9/17 978-0-544-80503-3 $18.99 An extended conversation between a science-savvy groundhog and a new-to-Earth’s-history worm features a comprehensive overview of the geological past of our planet. The graphic format, […]
Graphic-novel biographies and memoirs
January 22, 2018 by 1 Comment
Chandler, Matt Outrunning the Nazis: The Brave Escape of Resistance Fighter Sven Somme Illustrated by Daniele Nicotra. Gr. 4–6, middle school 32 pp. Capstone/Graphic Library Yomtov, Nel Death Camp Uprising: The Escape from Sobibor Concentration Camp Illustrated by Wilson Tortosa. Gr. 4–6, middle school 32 pp. Capstone/Graphic Library Great Escapes of World War II series. […]
Parenting inspiration from Kazu Kibuishi and other graphic novelists at the MICE expo
October 24, 2017 by Leave a Comment
“What is the hardest character for you to draw?” my second-grade son, Miles, asked Kazu Kibuishi, author and illustrator of his favorite graphic novels series, Amulet. Kibuishi had just finished an inspiring talk and demonstration for a group of children and adults at MICE (Massachusetts Independent Comics Exposition) at Lesley University on October 21 and […]
Crossing Literacy Thresholds: When Kids Are “Stuck” Reading the Same Things
March 22, 2017 by 3 Comments
I take a democratic spirit with regard to my children’s reading. In my view, if I take them to the library every weekend and they’re reading something — anything! — then we’re good, right? Maybe not. Lately, my nine year-old has been apathetic about our library trips, preferring to wait in the car. When in […]
Reading Without Walls: A Conversation with Gene Luen Yang
March 8, 2017 by 1 Comment
Gene Luen Yang, graphic novelist and the Library of Congress’s 2016–2017 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, has initiated a challenge to us all. Its rules are simple: read one book whose main character “doesn’t look like you or live like you”; OR read one book “about a topic you don’t know much about”; OR […]
Raúl the Third, 2017 Pura Belpré Illustrator winner, at Cport School
January 26, 2017 by 1 Comment
On Monday, Raúl the Third (a.k.a. Raúl Gonzalez) was announced as winner of the 2017 Pura Belpré Illustrator Award for his middle-grade graphic novel Lowriders to the Center of the Earth, written by Cathy Camper. Some people go to Disney World. This guy went to Cambridgeport School! On Tuesday he spent the morning in the […]
Review of Comics Confidential: Thirteen Graphic Novelists Talk Story, Craft, and Life Outside the Box
December 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Comics Confidential: Thirteen Graphic Novelists Talk Story, Craft, and Life Outside the Box compiled and edited by Leonard S. Marcus Middle School, High School Candlewick 176 pp. 9/16 978-0-7636-5938-7 $24.99 A foreword by David Small and Marcus’s brief outline of the history of comics introduce the book. Marcus (The Wand in the Word: Conversations with […]
Snow White
December 6, 2016 by 1 Comment
When I first heard Matt Phelan was working on a graphic novel that would transpose Snow White from her traditional fairy-tale locale to Depression-era New York City, I was more than a little excited. Phelan’s previous graphic novels (Storm in the Barn; Bluffton) are favorites of mine and have been a hit with my comics-obsessed students. […]
Review of Snow White
September 6, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Snow White by Matt Phelan; illus. by the author Intermediate, Middle School Candlewick 216 pp. 9/16 978-0-7636-7233-1 $19.99 Phelan has visited the 1930s Dust Bowl in The Storm in the Barn (rev. 11/09), early-1900s vaudevillian Buster Keaton in Bluffton (rev. 11/13), and late-nineteenth-century explorers in Around the World (rev. 11/11). Here he heads off to […]
The POW! of the turning of the page
November 17, 2015 by 1 Comment
I was super-stoked to attend a live taping of The Nerdist Writers’ Panel podcast at local indie bookstore Brookline Booksmith on Saturday. The special guest was Joe Hill, one of my favorite adult authors. He’s published three horror-ish novels (including Horns, which in 2013 was made into a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe), a short story […]
