Aug 20
Posted: under Ages 09-18, English, Josdal, Matt, Kumar, Naresh, Literature, Mann, Roland, Remedial Reading, Shearer, Brian, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Twain, Mark.
August 20th, 2009
Comic Title: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Comic Author: Adapted from the novels by Mark Twain. Tom Sawyer adapted by Matt Josdal and illustrated by Brian Shearer; Huck Finn adapted by Roland Mann and illustrated by Naresh Kumar. Format: Graphic Novel Reviewed by: Jessica Both Mark Twain’s classic paean [...] [...more]
Comic Title: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Comic Author: Adapted from the novels by Mark Twain. Tom Sawyer adapted by Matt Josdal and illustrated by Brian Shearer; Huck Finn adapted by Roland Mann and illustrated by Naresh Kumar.
Format: Graphic Novel
Reviewed by: Jessica
Both Mark Twain’s classic paean to American boyhood and his most celebrated portrait of the antebellum South get the graphic novel treatment.
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Mar 29
Posted: under Ages 09-18, All-Star Superman, English, Grant, Jamie, Morrison, Grant, Quietly, Frank.
March 29th, 2009
Comic Title: All-Star Superman Author: Written by Grant Morrison, artwork by Frank Quietly and Jamie Grant. Format: Comic book mini-series (twelve issues). Also available in paperback or hardcover collected editions. Reviewed by: Elena Brief Summary (2 to 5 sentences): Clark Kent/Superman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Lex Luthor, and zany scientist Leo Quintum do pretty much [...] [...more]
Comic Title: All-Star Superman
Author: Written by Grant Morrison, artwork by Frank Quietly and Jamie Grant.
Format: Comic book mini-series (twelve issues). Also available in paperback or hardcover collected editions.
Reviewed by: Elena
Brief Summary (2 to 5 sentences):
Clark Kent/Superman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Lex Luthor, and zany scientist Leo Quintum do pretty much the exact same things that they’ve always done – but fabulously. A modern Superman story that somehow manages to perfectly capture the limitless wonder – and complete insanity – of the Golden Age Superman stories, All-Star Superman is both a quintessential distillation and a fresh repackaging of everything that makes Superman awesome.
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Feb 19
Posted: under Ages 15-18, Basu, Samit, English, India, Literature, Myth/Folklore, Padlekar, Ashish, Tall Tales of Vishnu Sharma.
February 19th, 2009
Title: The Tall Tales of Vishnu Sharma Author: Written by Samit Basu, artwork by Ashish Padlekar. Format: Comic book mini-series (five issues). Reviewed by: Elena Vishnu Sharma is a somewhat apathetic teenager living a normal life. Until one day a trio of magical talking animals follow him home, and inform him that it is his [...] [...more]
Title: The Tall Tales of Vishnu Sharma
Author: Written by Samit Basu, artwork by Ashish Padlekar.
Format: Comic book mini-series (five issues).
Reviewed by: Elena
Vishnu Sharma is a somewhat apathetic teenager living a normal life. Until one day a trio of magical talking animals follow him home, and inform him that it is his destiny to Save the World. And then Harry Potter shows up and tries to kill him. No, seriously.
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Jan 17
Posted: under Ages 15-18, Black, Holly, English, Good Neighbors, Literature, Naifeh, Ted.
January 17th, 2009
Comic Title: The Good Neighbors #1: Kin Comic Author: Holly Black (writing), Ted Neifeh (art) Format: Graphic Novel Reviewed by: Jessica When Rue’s mother disappears, her father is arrested as her suspected murderer. But Rue’s not sure her mother’s dead, and when she starts seeing faeries everywhere – fairies who talk to her like she’s [...] [...more]
Comic Title: The Good Neighbors #1: Kin
Comic Author: Holly Black (writing), Ted Neifeh (art)
Format: Graphic Novel
Reviewed by: Jessica
When Rue’s mother disappears, her father is arrested as her suspected murderer. But Rue’s not sure her mother’s dead, and when she starts seeing faeries everywhere – fairies who talk to her like she’s one of them – she’s even less sure.
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Dec 19
Posted: under All Ages, English, Foreign Language, Penny Arcade.
December 19th, 2008
This is a fun and super-easy project that I’ve done with EFL learners. My students were Japanese kids between the ages of twelve and fifteen, although I’m sure that this basic idea could be modified to work for any age group studying any language. You’ve probably heard of this one before, too. It’s easy: Just [...] [...more]
This is a fun and super-easy project that I’ve done with EFL learners. My students were Japanese kids between the ages of twelve and fifteen, although I’m sure that this basic idea could be modified to work for any age group studying any language.
You’ve probably heard of this one before, too. It’s easy: Just pick a comic strip, blank out the word bubbles, hand the “blanked” strip to your students, and let them fill in the word bubbles with their own funny, creative dialogue.
Also, this wasn’t my idea. I can’t even remember where I first came across this idea, as it’s been posted to many forums and “teacher resources” websites before. But I do remember that somehow, somewhen, I actually picked up on the idea of using Penny Arcade strips from Karen Healey. And Penny Arcade strips really do work beautifully, since they tend to feature lush, highly expressive cartoony artwork, which in turn inspires some pretty creative results from students.
Here are two strips that worked well for me.
Original Strip
Original Strip
I’ve admittedly never tried this exercise with other strips before, but I imagine that Peanuts strips, or certain strips from Calvin and Hobbes, would work equally as well.
Now this would be the part where I post some of the best results from what my students have done with their strips. Unfortunately, I can’t get any of my Japanese students to give me permission to post their strips on this here blog, because they’re shy. I’m working on it, though. They were the ones who taught me how to perfect the art of puppy-dog eyes in the first place.
Dec 06
Posted: under Ages 06-08, Ages 09-11, Baby-sitters Club, English, Martin, Ann M., Telgemeier, Raina.
December 6th, 2008
Comic Title: The Baby-sitters Club (Kristy’s Great Idea, The Truth About Stacey, Mary Anne Saves the Day, Claudia and Mean Janine) Comic Author: Raina Telgemeier (adapted from the books by Ann M. Martin) Format: Graphic Novels Reviewed by: Jessica Centering around a group of tween girls and their babysitting business, Ann M. Martin’s venerable series [...] [...more]
Comic Title: The Baby-sitters Club (Kristy’s Great Idea, The Truth About Stacey, Mary Anne Saves the Day, Claudia and Mean Janine)
Comic Author: Raina Telgemeier (adapted from the books by Ann M. Martin)
Format: Graphic Novels
Reviewed by: Jessica
Centering around a group of tween girls and their babysitting business, Ann M. Martin’s venerable series was one of the most successful kids’ series of all time. Raina Telgemeier updates the early books into a charming set of graphic novels.
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Dec 06
Posted: under Ages 09-11, Ages 12-14, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, English, Kinney, Jeff, Remedial Reading.
December 6th, 2008
Comic Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Roderick Rules Comic Author: Jeff Kinney Format: Diary-style novels, but with tons of little comics and doodles Reviewed by: Jessica At first Greg is reluctant to write in the journal – not diary! – that his mother gives him, but soon [...] [...more]
Comic Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Roderick Rules
Comic Author: Jeff Kinney
Format: Diary-style novels, but with tons of little comics and doodles
Reviewed by: Jessica
At first Greg is reluctant to write in the journal – not diary! – that his mother gives him, but soon he’s recounting all of his various misadventures as he struggles to be more than just a wimpy kid in the tumultuous world of middle school.
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Nov 29
Posted: under Ages 15-18, English, Lilly, Mike, Literature, Macbeth, Remedial Reading, Robbins, Trina.
November 29th, 2008
Title: Macbeth Author: Adapted by Trina Robbins, artwork by Mike Lilly and Nimbus Studios Format: Graphic Novel Reviewed by: Elena Witches and conspiracies and cold-blooded murder! Scholastic’s graphic novel edition of Macbeth is intended for struggling readers, presenting the meat of the story with minimal use of Shakespeare’s original language. [...more]
Title: Macbeth
Author: Adapted by Trina Robbins, artwork by Mike Lilly and Nimbus Studios
Format: Graphic Novel
Reviewed by: Elena
Witches and conspiracies and cold-blooded murder! Scholastic’s graphic novel edition of Macbeth is intended for struggling readers, presenting the meat of the story with minimal use of Shakespeare’s original language.
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