The World's Gone Graphic! Gaining a Graphic IQ

 I realize that while my world of novels and books will always be there to entertain and enlighten, we are on riding the wave of a graphic revolution.

We have, we use, and we are bombarded with images everywhere.  And we increasingly need these images to better communicate and convince.

We see and seek  images everywhere.  From product identification and safety directions, to illustrations / art in blogs and in books.  When we communicate via email in short verbal bursts and often include icons to better express ourselves :-)

While this 'revolution' has been around for a while it has only recently hit me how extensive it is.  I now LOVE graphic novels, instructions are graphic, and road signs use more and more images to convey information.


GRAPHICS AND LITERACY:

Since reading my first graphic novel last year (Joe Kelly's I Kill Giants), I have read numerous outstanding educational graphic novels for kids - chalk full of extensive vocabulary, well-written dialogue, exquisitely inviting art, and exciting stories of fiction and nonfiction, science and technology, history, social conflict and the search of identities.

I have also learned that graphic novels are the fastest selling format of kids' books, and find myself the author of a book on how to integrate graphic novels into middle school curriculum.  Major publishers have now set up graphic novel divisions and while Barnes & Nobles don't quite know how to shelve them yet, they're out there!

Furthermore, librarians have realized that graphic novels bring kids and young adults back into libraries, and that graphic novels are bringing kids back to books and reading!  Graphic novels literally illustrate the art of story-telling.

GRAPHICS IN THE REAL WORLD:

We use graphic images in everything thing we do.  We have visual icons that relay safety messages and product information.  We use them to cross the street.  We use them to advertise.  We use them in presentations.  We use them to convince.

When was the last time you went to a presentation or workshop and just sat and listened?  To sell an idea or product we use Power Point, we teach with handouts, advertisers agonize over the most striking and memorable images.  We sell everything with images.

Look at your favorite blogs.  I don't know about you, but I favor some visual support when reading them.  The images are inviting, they help break up the screen, and they add a dimension to the message.



AS PRODUCTS GO GLOBAL - INSTRUCTIONS GO GRAPHIC:

Because so many of our products come from other countries or are sold world wide, instructions must be universally understood.  While some companies will provide written instructions / warnings in multiple languages, many are instead simply going graphic!

It's this last point that really got me to this graphic revolution point!

My daughter just moved to Boston where she started work on Monday.  We went to Ikea to furnish her apartment and found ALL the directions were purely graphic!

The thing is that as bright as we both are (she graduated with honors from Williams College, I have a PhD and graduated from an ivy league school)...the directions were really hard to follow.  There were times we just didn't quite "get" what went where.  Here's just one page:



THE BOTTOM LINE:

• Communicating with images is here to stay! 
• We as concerned parents and educators must teach our kids to "read" images
• The International Reading Association (IRA) and the National Council of Teachers of English (NTCE) have included in their standards that "Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts"

EDUCATION MUST include and address this graphic revolution. 

We should never abandon our classics.  I love teaching Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Andrew Clemen's Frindle, but we also have to teach kids how to use Power Point, how to read graphic instructions/directions, and how to tell stories with graphic images, even how to "read" faces.  Hence, enter graphic novels - a wonderful bridge for both worlds.



SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING GRAPHIC INTELLIGENCE:

• Include graphic novels in your reading repertoire and in your read aloud repertoire with your kids.
• Focus on learning to read the details in illustrations.
• Talk about advertising icons - why do you thing a company / advertisers chose a particular image?  Was it effective?
• Talk about art, the use of color, the use of particular shapes...what these images portray...what emotions they evoke.
• Discuss design choices for school projects, for homemade cards, for household products...
• Turn commercial time into a cognitive puzzle: Talk about your favorite/least favorite commercials.  What do you like about them?  What do you hate about them? (Here are two of my favorites - one serious [and notice - no words], one that made me laugh)

I am curious - how much have graphic images invaded your worlds?  How do you help teach your kids to cope with the images they're bombarded with?  How do you cope? Please let me know in your comments! 

Visual/Verbal Literacy - Part 2: Reluctant Readers and Brick Walls

Aside from my confession below, I can think of no better way to begin this post than with another slam poem by Taylor Mali:

Confession:  I remember being in high school, home sick and asking my mom to read aloud to me.  She refused, saying I was too old.  With some serious prodding from me, she relented and read to me, and I will always remember and love her for it.  Even now, I beg my husband to read aloud to me too.  I just love it.  I love hearing his soothing voice - it relaxes me. I don't think you're never too old to be read aloud to. 

Aside from the intimacy of being read to, reading aloud helps kids hear and integrate the rhythm and sequence of language.  It is an excellent way to encourage reluctant readers and boost their language skills.

Overview: Getting reluctant readers can be as much fun and as effective as hitting your head against a brick wall!  As my last blog was on visual literacy - an important skill to emphasize for all, especially reluctant readers, I want to spend more time now on visual literacy.  With summer here and school out, there is a lot parents can do to help build kids' literacy skills.  Here are some suggestions:

Read aloud at bed time, down time, or on a stormy afternoon (I recommend your reading Thundercake by Patricia Polacco and then bake a thundercake together). You can even read aloud at breakfast - if you're awake enough and have the energy - read cereal boxes together, read or summarize a newspaper or magazine article, or even share cool blog posts together.

Model reading independently- let your kids see you reading for fun and for work.  Let them see you enjoying it - finding humor, excitement, information!

Tell Stories -  making up crazy, zany ones or writing/telling serious ones.  The point is to become more comfortable using words.

Read wordless books and tell you the story:  Reading wordless books offers a wonderful opportunity for your child to become more comfortable with books and with using his or her words.  The more your kids use words (spoken, heard, or written), the easier it will be to USE them.

So, from as soon as your child can talk encourage him or her to read books aloud to you or silently to themselves -  just looking at the illustrations and telling the story (also great practice with visual literacy).  Here are some more of my favorite wordless books (I have recommended others in previous posts):

Looking Down by Steve Jenkins

The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

Flotsam by David Wiesner 

Little Star by Antonin Louchard

Good Dog, Carl by Alexandra Day

Make up stories - (even or especially zany, crazy stories) - the point is to play with words

Rhyme - play rhyming games, make rhyming poems (zany crazy poems work well here too) - rhyming provides opportunities to play with phonemes (word sounds).  The more familiar you are with word sounds, the easier they will be to visually recognize in print.

Graphic novels great motivators integrate visual and verbal literacies.  Check out some of my other posts with graphic novel suggestions:

http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/06/visual-vs-visual-literacy-no-contest.html

http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/05/science-fiction-skills-chills-and.html

http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/03/learning-with-laughter.html

 http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/03/kicking-back-bitwhats-all-this-about.html

http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/01/great-reads-for-avid-4th-and-5th-grade.html

http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2010/10/graphic-novels-at-home-and-in-school.html 

Encourage your kids to read alone - even if it's a picture book.  

Make sure your kids are reading high interest books on their "INDENDENT READING LEVEL" An independent reading level is the reading level the person can read comfortably with little to no error.  It is the reading level that is "easy" but engaging.  If your child is putting down a book mid-reading it is either because she or he has lost interest in the content, or because the book was too challenging, or both.

How to find an independent reading level? You can ask your child's teacher and/or you can experiment yourself.  Have your child read aloud to you.  If he or she stumbles over words when reading AND/OR cannot define words read, then that reading selection is too difficult to read independently.



Some high interest easier reading books for weak readers:  These books are entertaining but the language is easier and there are visual cues to help with comprehension and word recognition.

• Sophisticated picture books
• Horrible Histories by Terry Deary are wonderfully funny and often colorful and unusual stories from history or science.  There are also occasional illustrations to further express a point.  This a wonderful series of books for middle school students of ALL reading levels.
• The Magic Tree House series are easy to read stories (second grade reading level) that older, less talented readers can enjoy reading as well.

NOT SURE?  Ask a Librarian!  They are fantastic resources for appropriate reading materials for kids of all ages.

Join or establish a parent/child book club.  Talk to your local librarian for assistance.  I did this with my daughter and it was a lot of fun.

The world around you is an oyster of words to read and write - take advantage of this! Read signs when driving.  Make up real and crazy signs.  Read and write blogs together - create meme challenges. Leave notes for each other.  Create and write cards. 

The best way to encourage reluctant readers is to make sure they are reading at the right level and to surround them with books, and reading and writing opportunities.

What's your opinion?

Visual vs. Verbal Literacy? No Contest

http://izismile.com/2009/08/05/weird_signs_16_pics.html 

http://www.goodexperience.com/tib/archives/2006/12/just_for_fun_we.html

If a picture's worth a thousand words, why don't we teach visual literacy?

In a world where tweets, SMS's, and IM's are used more than letters and phone calls, learning to extract meaning from verbal and visual images has become more important.  Why:

• When communicating and marketing ourselves, our ideas, our businesses, we create visual and verbals messages:  Business cards, billboards, advertisements, blogs, tweets, SMS' and IMs ALL have visual and verbal representations!
• Socially - at work, play and in school, we need to read faces of other kids and adults to fully understand how to effectively interact with and respond to others.
• To succeed in school and at work, we need to decipher the following - ALL of which rely on verbal and visual literacy:
• Visual and verbal information presented in advertisements, shows, signs, etc.
• Scientific and mathematical notations, charts and symbols;
• Musical notes and notation;
• Webs and charts;
• Maps;
• Logos;
• Graphs;
• Photographs;
• Videos, movies, shows;
• Cartoons (kids' cartoons, political cartoons, etc.);

In short, we have to learn to read and use images as well as letters.  And, for those who have trouble reading (or reluctant readers), visual literacy is even more important as it will make traditional learning and reading easier and provides another avenue of communication.

So really, there is no contest between visual and verbal literacies...both are essential!

Interestingly (at least to me), while the term "visual literacy" is credited to Jack Debes, co-founder of the International Visual Literacy Association around 1969, it did not come across my radar as a school psychologist and educator until very recently.  Similarly, while Mary Alice White, a researcher at Columbia University's Teacher's College has found that kids learn more than half of what they know from visually presented mediums, few schools consciously teach students how to evaluate and think critically about visual data. 

In fact, until VERY recently, there was little or no emphasis on visual literacy.

Point: Visual and verbal literacy should both be taught is school - preferably together.

That said, due to limited space, I will continue now with visual literacy and my next post will be about verbal literacy.


Some ways to help you and your child develop visual literacy skills:

Things to talk about together:

• When walking, driving, flipping through magazines, looking at illustrations, and reading aloud books with visual images, TALK about the ads and images you see: 
• discuss the color choices for the panels and images,
• discuss what is and is not in the background image, 
• discuss the choice of words and fonts used,
• what type of feelings/impressions do the font choices relay?

• When reading graphic novels discuss the three bullets above AND:
• Do the panel shapes change?  How and why? [For example, dream and flashback panels are often portrayed within panels with squiggly lines vs. straight lines.  Also, spoken dialogue is often written in different text balloons from ideas/thoughts that are unspoken.] 
• Discuss the way the panels are organized on the page - does one seem more dominant than another?  Why?
• Does one page look different from another?  How is it different?  Why do you think the authors/illustrations changed the format?

Books you can read:

• Wordless story books - here are only a few of my favorites:

Good Dog Carl by Alexandra Day; Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathman; Chalk by Bill Thomson; and Rainstorm by Barbara Lehman

•  Comic books and graphic novels -

 These are some of my favorite graphic novels for kids of various ages:

Laika by Nick Abadzis.  First Second Books (age 7+) - about the first sentient being sent to space by the Russians.

 I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Nimura. Image Comics  (age 12+) a book about 5th-grader Barbara who fights giants (but does she really -or is this one giant metaphor...sorry for the pun).

Courtney Crumrin Tales by Ted Neifeh Oni Press (age 7+) about a girl in space school.

 Salt Water Taffy by Matthew Loux Oni Press (all ages)

Possessions  by Ray Fawkes (ages 7+) about ghosts and gouls living together (lots of fun, lots of spunk)

Northwest Passage by Scott Chantler. ONI Press (age 9+) a wonderful account of this pivotal story in American history (with author annotation to help those novice visual

readers)

City of Spies by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan, illustrated by Pascal Dizin. First Second Books (age 9+) - about a girl sent to spend the summer in the early 1940's with her aunt, while her father marries his fifth wife...

Lewis & Clark by Nick Bertozzi.  First Second Books (age 9+) another verbal-visual account of a pivotal event in American history

American Born Chinese First Second Books (age 9+) minority in America

Robot Dreams by Sara Varon First Second Books (all ages) wordless graphic novel all about friendship

The Olympians by George O'Connor.  First Second Books  (age 9+) a beautiful account of Greek mythology

Berona's War by Jesse Labbe and Anthony Coffey. Archaia Press (age 11+) a manual depicting this infamous (fictional) war

Gennerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell (age 9+) great story about a girl and her 'friends' in a very boarding school in a very different world

Mouse Guard by Luke Crane and David Petersen (age 9+) a graphic novel much like Brian Jacques' Redwall series.

Websites to visit:  Check out some of my other blog posts for specific age level suggestions:

http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/04/options-shining-opportunities-opening.html

http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/04/facial-literacy-orsecuring-social.html

http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/03/kicking-back-bitwhats-all-this-about.html

http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-jaunt-at-c2e2-2011departing-text.html

http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/03/reading-graphic-novels-and-memory.html 

• Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics is a great way to learn and experience the world of visual literacy.  For what it's worth, I just love this book.  McCloud shows how print fonts, print size, patterns, colors, facial expressions, designs, ALL influence our processing and understanding of the things around us.

Sites to visit:

• http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html

This site provides an interactive 'periodic table' and I find it MIND BOGGLING that there are so many ways to visually present information.  This is an absolute MUST for teachers to go through.  It will change the way you teach and look at the world.

As a parent - this is a fun site to share with your child - especially before projects.  Brainstorm different ways to visually present information.  It is fun!

•  http://k-8visual.info/

This site is also useful for parents and teachers.  It defines visual literacy, makes book suggestions and has free materials for teachers.

• http://museumca.org/picturethis/visual.html

This site is sponsored by the Oakland Museum of California and discusses why visual literacy is so important, and how parents and teachers can use photographs to better appreciate, understand and develop visual literacy skills.

• http://www.readingart.net/LESSONS

This site has some pretty cool lesson plans on visual literacy using all sorts of materials although most of the lessons are for middle or high school classrooms.

What is your take on all of this?  I am really curious:  Obviously if you're reading this you love blogging - how much thought do you put into the visual aspects of your blogs?  What would you recommend to others?

Kicking back a bit...What's all this about Inference?

In my last post I summarized my C2E2 presentation.  What I would like to do this week is kick back, discuss some of the comments and take them a bit further, talking about the nearly unlimited opportunities you can make to read with your kids, talk with them and help them learn to think critically and evaluate the world around them.

What's all this about inference?
Inference is the act of drawing a conclusion by deductive reasoning.  Inferences are assumptions or images we connect or construe when reading, when talking with others, even watching television or movies.  Reading and writing poetry is an example of making inferences.  In poetry the reader provides images, similes, metaphors that the reader must interpret in order to fully comprehend the author's intent. Some people describe making inferences as 'reading between the lines' which is SO appropriate when talking about reading graphic novels.

We make inferences all the time - at work, at home, talking to colleagues and friends, in school, at play, when reading, when thinking about the world around us.  The thing about inference, though is that it is actually hard to teach and hard to learn.  Graphic novels are so helpful because they provide so many cues - text, art, and even page design all provide the reader with important information.

Types of inferences we make when reading graphic novels:
When we read regular novels, we typically make inferences about what the characters, places, events look like.  We are almost always told what the protagonist is thinking and feeling, and motives are often included by the narrator or third-person voice.  In graphic novels that is not the case.  When reading graphic novels we typically must infer:

• Character motives and intent;
• Emotions;
• Time sequences;
• What is happening 'beween' scenes (and in the gutters) that is not 'given' or provided by author/artist.

Kicking back with an example of the awesome power of graphic novels and making inferences:
This image s taken from I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly (Image comics).

Story Background:  Barbara is a fifth grader who tells anyone who will listen that she kills giants.  The reader is uncertain at this point if she really kills giants, if she lives in a world of her own, out of touch with others, or if this is one giant metaphor for her having to face huge scary issues in her life.

On this page, Barbara is arguing with her sister.  Barbara hit the school counselor and her sister was called to pick her up.  The sister is really upset.

Inferences we must make:

• Why does Barabaras's sister have to 'do this on her own'?
• Where is their dad?
• Where is their mom?
• Why are there words inked out?
• What might Barabara's sister be saying?
• Why can't Barabara hear them?
• What is with the eye thing in the middle panel on the bottom?
• Why is there a shadow over Barbara's face in the last panel?

This is just one page from one graphic novel.  Each graphic novel is different in part, because the stories, the art, and the page design are different for each book.  That is part of the thrill or reading these new books and formats.  As always, the quality and appropriateness of these books vary.  While I recommend reading them at home and in school, I strongly recommend that adults look through the books before giving them to kids to check for appropriateness of story and vocuabulary.  That said, graphic novels are well worth the effort.

How else can you help your kids learn to make inferences?

• Talk about books you and your kids read (graphic novels, poetry, prose).  Ask them what the author intended when she/she wrote something vague or something different. 
• When reading graphic novels:
• Talk about how the art and the visual details add to the story.
• Talk about how the choice of color palate helps explain depict emotion.
• Discuss how the choice of text font and shape add to the story detail.
• Talk about the titles of books and chapters.  After reading them, would you have chosen those titles?  Why?  Can you think of different titles?
• Talk about metaphors and similes.  They are such graphic means of expression.  When you come across them, talk about them.
• When going for walks talk and think about the things you see around you.  Why are they that way?  Why do you  think squirrels have busy tails?  What color do you think is the most popular one for the outside of a house?  Why?  
• Design scenes and worlds for dolls/lego designs, trains, dinosaurs as you play together.  Talk about the choices your child makes when designing the scenes.
• What is so great about jello - the taste, the texture, the fact that it jiggles?

These questions go on and on.  The point is to notice things around you, to notice things others say or write and to think and further analyze and understand them.  The more you model and practice critical thinking and inference, the easier it will be for your child to tackle the world around them.

What are some of the ways you practice making inferences together?  I'd love to hear some of your ideas or questions!

My Jaunt at C2E2 2011...Departing the Text: Teaching Inference with Graphic Novels

I just got back from  C2E2 2011.  Not only did the panel go well,  I love conventions...walking around...getting free books...and pitching mine. It's all about books (at least for me).  I own a kindle and read it (and love it when traveling), but there is something about the touch, feel and smell of books and paper in your hand...

At the request of some of my readers, let me tell you about the presentation Talia Hurwich and I made, "Departing the Text:  Teaching Inference With Graphic Novels." (Katie Monnin who also contributed could not make it).  The turnout was good and the audience was as passionate about teaching kids,  reaching kids, reaching teachers and introducing the right graphic novels into classrooms as we were. 

Presentation highlights:
Getting to know the page: While I'm not sure there is a 'typical' graphic novel page since page design is actually part of the art, each page contains the following elements:

• Panels - boxes of various shape, size and borders that contain varying amounts of text and art.
• Text varies in size, shape and in presentations. Typically, the text is presented in narrative or dialogue form (and dialogue is often in a 'text bubble').
• When there is more than one panel to a page (which is usually the case), the panels are separated by lines or space called "gutters." Gutters are actually important.

Gutters are where a lot of critical thinking takes place.  For one, they provide opportunities to pause,  reflect and digest the previous panel and "fill in" the gaps of time, action and emotion.  Gutters also allow readers to pause and fill chunks of 'data' that the author/illustrator did not provide which are also necessary for comprehension.

In order to read and comprehend graphic novels, readers must:

• Attend to the text's content;
• Attend to details in art - the foreground and the background, facial expressions, spacing and placing of objects;
• Attend to the shape, size and presentation of  text (in and out of) the panels; and
• Attend to the panel borders and the choice of color in the backgrounds.

Learning is most effective when it is personal, meaningful and interactive. Here's how graphic novels can play a huge role:

• Graphic novels are particularly suited for learning because they involve the reader as s/he constantly engages with the medium - switching from verbal to visual stimuli and constructing his/her level of understanding.
• Aside from the art often being literally stunning, it pops out at you and invites the reader to participate in the action.  TRIBES:  The Dog Years (by Michael Geszel, Peter Spinetta; art by Inaki Miranda - IDW Publishers) is one example. 
• Readers are constantly making inferences when they read graphic novels.  
•  Critical to reading and learning from graphic novels is that information is given everywhere, and "art" can include the use of illustrations, the design of the page, the font, size, shape, and presentation of the text.

Readers Must make INFERENCES in order to comprehend:

• We make them when we leap - figuring out what happened within and between panels.
• We must infer character emotions from faces,  from the color of the panel background, from body stances, from text (content, shape, size), and from panel borders and shapes.
• We must infer motives from faces, body posture, text (content, shape, size) and from panel borders and shapes.
• We make inferences in the use of figure/ground and foreground/background.
• We make inferences about author/illustrator 'choices'.
• Time is often 'weird' in graphic novels.  The art and design allows the author/illustrator to jump from one period of time to another, often with no formal 'direction'.  As a result, readers must infer 'where' they are 'when' integrating the art, the shading, the panel borders, the color and the text provided.

A special note about teaching social cognition - how to read faces, understand boundaries and personal space, validate emotions... graphic novels are a power house:  In social interactions, reading verbal and nonverbal cues is essential.  Graphic novels clearly can help. The facial expressions, how people are standing or interacting together, the color of the background, the tension in the bodies, smooth or jagged panel borders, text size-shape-and font, ALL show and teach us how one expression, word, stance can lead to a particular emotion or reaction in others.  SEEING is often so much more power than just reading or being told, and graphic novels do both.


Talia outlined a sample lesson plan for introducing Greek mythology using Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess by George O'Connor, published by First Second. For anyone interested, please let me know, we can email a copy to you.

Questions/concerns from the audience [Note each bullet is a topic for an upcoming post so stay tuned]:

• How do parents, teachers, librarians know what to buy?  As with prose novels, there are junk and gems all around.  How do we know what to buy/read/recommend?
• How can parent/teachers learn more about using and reading graphic novels to build inference skills?
• Can I provide further examples of how to read graphic novel panels, pointing out opportunities for inference?
• Do you have questions?  Please let me know in the comments.

Conclusion: 
Graphic novels are rife with teaching opportunities for kids with all kinds of strengths and weaknesses and they should be integrated in classrooms and read at home.  The key is finding the right ones to use.  I have made some recommendations in previous posts, and will continue to do so.

What do you think?  Any questions?  Do you want any particular information?  Please let me know.

Reading, Graphic Novels, and Memory

In my last post, I discussed how reading and comprehending graphic novels demand large chunks of attention: attention to detail, attention to background, attention to language, and attention to art and lettering (size, font, and shape).  This week I would like to focus on graphic novels and memory.

Prose vs. Graphic Novels and the demands reading them place on memory.

Prose Novels: When reading anything in print we have to remember:

• The shapes and corresponding sounds of letters;
• We have to remember the corresponding sounds of letter blends, 
• We have to remember vocabulary (recalling the spelling of words to more efficiently decode them as well as their defintions), 
• We have to remember what we just read and if it makes sense vis-a-vis what you read a few sentences ago (metacognition - keeping track of our comprehension), 
• We have to remember rules of grammar and punctuation, and 
• When reading we have to constantly keep track of plot, time, motives, names, places and events.

Reading places demands on short term memory, long term memory, and active working memory.

Graphic Novels:  When reading graphic novels, we have to remember:

• ALL the demands on memory listed above for prose novels PLUS:
• We have to remember not only the words we read, but the sequence scenes we view in the panels.  
• We have to remember what occurred in the previous panel while constructing and inferring what was not included in the gutter.  
• We also have to remember the artist's different use of font and panel borders.  (Sometimes, for example squiggly lines around a panel means someone is thinking, sometimes it can mean they are angry.  
• We have to keep track of the particular artists' intent in the choice of letter fonts and sizes, and panel divisions and borders.  The art, while adding an emotional and very engaging component, also adds additional demands on memory.
• When reading comics or a graphic novel series we also have to remember small sequences of the story over a long period of time.  With comics, only a small segment of the story is printed at a time, with weeks between issues.  The reader has to keep track of plot, motives, intents, etc. [And, while we do this as well with sequels for books, the stories in each prose novel book are complete and easier to remember than the small segments readers are given at each comic installment.  The disjointed story makes it more difficult to remember.]

How to use graphic novels to build memory skills:

• Read comic books in regular installments.  Read them together with your kids and:
• Talk about them.  
• Brainstorm where you think the author(s) will take the next installment.
• Before reading the next installment, review what has happened so far.
• Discuss how the art helps you remember certain aspects of the story.  
• Discuss how the art provides cues to help your mind read and not have to think or remember reading strategies.  For example, different fonts and borders may help you realize this is a flash-back. Also, different art styles within a comic can cue your mind in terms of which sequence panels should be read in.  Once you realize the artist's intent, it frees your mind to focus on other issues.
• Whether reading these books together or individually, you may want to create story maps to visually "see" where the story is going (and help remember details). 

There are now many kids non-fiction and historical fiction graphic novels.  Pairing these graphic novels with science, social studies, history and language arts in the classroom will help provide graphic images as well as complementary content that will help make the educational content more meaningful and easier to recall.  Here are a few young adult nonfiction and historical fiction graphic novel suggestions (recommended age ranges vary):

•  American Born Chinese (Yang, G.)  a perspective of growing up as a multicutural minority student (recommeded for middles school and above);
• Laika (Abadzis, N.)- provides a Russian perspective to the Space Race (third grade and above);
• Mouse Guard (Petersen, D.) - perspective of life in the Middle Ages (fourth grade and above);
• The Olympians (O'Connor, G.)- provides a wonderfully visual account of Greek myths (third grade and above);
• Persepolis (Satrapi, M.) - the story of childhood in Iran (recommended for mature middle school - high school);
• Kampung Boy (Lat) - about a Muslim boy growing up in rural Malaysia in the 1950's (middle school and above);
• Malcolm X:  A Graphic Biography (Helfer, R.D.) - critiques the Civil Rights Movement and Malcolm X's life (recommended for high school);
• Campfire Graphic Novels have published re-tellings of classic stories such as Treasure Island and Moby Dick and some of Shakespeare's classics (Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, for example) that you may want to check out.

Most of all, you want to enjoy the reading experience!  Let me know what your favorite non-fiction and historical fiction comics/graphic novels are.

Comics and Graphic Novels as Attention Trainers

This past weekend in The Wall Street Journal Weekend Review, Jonah Lehrer writes that while managing and focusing attention in school and in work is important, the more creative thinkers have been found to have attentions that wander and roam:

"Those undergrads who had a tougher time ignoring unrelated stuff were also seven times more likely to be rated as "eminent creative achievers" based on their previous accomplishments..Such lapses in attention turn out to be a crucial creative skill."

He does go on to note that these studies conducted were with college students, and results may be  different with younger subjects.  Furthermore he acknowledges how important it is for school-related success to execute mental control over attention.

So where does this leave us?  I see two correlates:

1. In school, it is important for our kids to hone attention to what is being said by the teacher and to attend to the tasks directed by him or her.
2. Finding time to daydream, to depart the text, to brainstorm, to pursue creative venues is equally important.

There are many ways to help your kids pursue creative, brainstorming activities: 

• Read aloud and brainstorm alternative endings and titles to the chapters or to the books.
• When reading, brainstorm sequels.
• Make cakes and cards for parties instead of buying them.  Create and design the cake, invitation, and decorations.
• Build forts in the snow, in the house (with chairs, sheets, blankets, boxes...).
• Design and Create - don't buy costumes for Halloween or other costume parties.
• Brainstorm unusual Sunday activities, or unusual family meals (experiment!).
• Take advantage of local historical sights, museums, nature trails, and events.
• Read all sorts of books, articles and of course, graphic novels, comic books!

As I am in comic book/graphic novel mode (see my "Note" to the right), let's talk about how comic books and graphic novels can help:

Attention and Graphic Novels:  When reading graphic novels, the reader MUST ATTEND to verbal and visual stimuli:

• to the words,
• to the font shape;
• to font sizes, 
• to the illustrations, 
• to the color of the fonts and illustrations, 
• to the foreground and background of the illustrations
• and even to the way the panels (dialogue and picture 'boxes') are laid out on the page. 

This is a lot to attend to and to take in.  Reading these texts in an exercise in controlling and managing attention.  And, because they are so visually appealing and of high interest, readers find these texts extremely engaging.  So, not only will you kids be attending to various stimuli, they may be able to sit longer than usual because they are so motivating.

How to use graphic novels to build attention:

•  If you read graphic novels together (which I recommend):
• Talk about the art -  how it makes you feel, what you noticed immediately, what took time to see and understand.
• Discuss design components and the page layout.  Discuss changes in layout and why the illustrator may have made those changes.
• Ruminate about how word size and fonts all contribute to the story.  
• Look for and discuss details. 

• You may want to create your own graphic novels for favorite book and stories. Doing this forces you to focus on the essential dialogue and story elements.  It provides opportunities to brainstorm about design and layout as well. 

A note of graphic novel selections:

• Please see my blog post of October, 13, 2010 for lists of graphic novel genres, kid friendly graphic novels and publishers, and a brief history of modern comics.
• Also please note that especially for younger kids - adults should be involved in selecting graphic novels.  There are some wonderful ones, but they have various levels of violence and sexual innuendo.  There are many with little or none:  (Laika, Zeus, Athena, Robot Dreams, American Born Chinese all published by First Second Books), The Bone Series and Ghostopolis (Scholastic) have some minor violence but is appropriate for younger readers,  These are just a few suggestions.
• WHEN IN DOUBT SEEK A LIBRARIAN'S ADVICE - most good librarians not only know their graphic novels, they are strong advocates.

Let me know what you and your kids are reading.  We can start a dialogue and recommended reading list.  And, know that the next few weeks will be delve further into the pros (and cons) of graphic novels

Great Reads for Avid 4th and 5th Grade Readers

In my last blog post, I was asked to consolidate my student reading suggestions for her 4th and 5th grade boys - avid readers in search of quality material.  As my previous suggested reading lists are for all ages, I decided to make more specific recommendations for the ages she requested.  Feel free to comment, add, and state your own requests.

I have tried to suggest less well-known books as avid readers have probably read the typical selections. The books below are all classics, all favorites of mine and well worth the read (and ensuing discussions). This is only the beginning of a list, and these are the ones that stick out for me:

Poetry

• Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" is as he put it, "a very tricky poem."  It is about his walking in the woods, coming to a choice of two paths, and taking (what initially appeared to be) the road less traveled.  It's a beautiful metaphor about life's choices where only later on you learn if the decisions made were the best ones.  
• Billy Collins.  Sailing Alone Around the Room.  New York.  Random House.  2001  and The Question About Angels. University of Pittsburgh Press.  1991 are two of my favorite books, but just about anything by Billy Collins is wonderfully thoughtful, provocative, and often full of energy.
• Karen Hesse. Out of the Dust.  Scholastic Press.  1997 is a brilliantly written and orchestrated "verse novel" weaving poetry and story telling about a girl growing up in the Oklahoma dust bowl in the 1930's.  Truly breath-taking!

Historical Fiction/Non Fiction

• Esther Forbes  Johnny Tremain.  Houghton Mifflin (1943) tells the story of the Boston colonists' struggle towards independence as seen through the eyes of a young silver smith apprentice, Johnny, who meets Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock, Doctor Joseph Warren, James Otis, Sr., Governor Thomas Hutchinson, and Thomas Gage - to name a few.  This book has also been referenced in two (at least) episodes of The Simpsons ("Whacking Day" and "Skinner's Sense of Snow") as well as in Family Guy.  
• Baroness Emmuska Orczy The Scarlet Pimpernel Hutchinson Press (1905) - (originally a play) takes place during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. There is intrigue, history and lovely twists of story and fate.  I would read this first and then introduce Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities (which is a bit denser) but obviously a classic as well.
• Yoko Kawashima Watkins  So Far From the Bamboo Grove Harper Teen (1986) is a semi-autobiographical book that takes place during the last days of World War II and Yoko and her family must flea their home in Nanam, northern Korea and end up, eventually in the United States.  It is about how she must flee with a torn family as father and brother are separated early in the story.  This book skirts some difficult (and often adult) issues, but is well worth the read and ensuing discussion.
• Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston  Farewell to Manzanar  Houghton Mifflin.  (1973) is a story of a Japanese American family sent to an internment camp near San Pedro California during World War II.  It describes the plight of loyal Japanese Americans who were confined during the war by their fellow citizens.  Riveting and quite thought provoking.
• Laurence Yep.  Dragonwings HarperCollins (1975)  is about a young immigrant Chinese boy who immigrates to San Francisco in the early 20th century (living through the Great Earthquake).  It is about he juggles the two worlds and cultures, fights discrimination, and how he and his father - inspired by the Wright brothers embark on an airplane project.
• Gene Luen Yang. American Born Chinese First Second Books (2006) is a brilliantly written and illustrated graphic novel that weaves three apparently unrelated stories together in an action-packed, humorous and poignant modern fable. The first story is about Jin Wang -a 'new kid' in school who finds he's the only Chinese-American student and desperately wants to fit in; the second is about the Monkey King an old Chinese fable; the third is about Chin-Kee, the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype who is ruining his cousin Danny's life.
• Nick Abadzis. Laika.  First Second Books (2007). is a graphic novel about Laika, an abandoned runt of a puppy who becomes the Earth's first space traveler.  The reader learns about and relates to Laika and her owners/care takers while reading about the space race from the Soviet perspective.  I highly recommend reading this and then reading Homer Hickham's October Sky (the story of the 1950's space race from an American boy's perspective).

Science Fiction/Fantasy/Fiction

• Orson Scott Card.  Ender's Game Tor Books (1975)   is a series - all worth the effort.  This is a science fiction classic with outstanding character development.
• Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy Ballantine Books (1995)  This is a three book series.  The first, The Golden Compass was made into a movie.  The book is infinitely better.  It does, however, touch on some mature topics including organized religion and the concept of the 'original sin'.  My son, in 5th grade LOVED these books so much that when he found out they were based on John Milton's Paradise Lost he actually read the seventeenth century poem!
• Neil Gaimon The Graveyard Book Harper Collins (2008)  is a lovely introduction to Gaimon for the younger reader. While it is about a boy raised by ghosts in a graveyard, it is warm, alive and really entertaining.
• Cornelia Funke, Inkheart.  Scholastic, (2003) is about a girl whose father can read characters in and out of books.  Despite the fact that this gets them into a lot of trouble, Meggie still wishes she had her father's talents.
  
• Joe Kelly I Kill Giants Image Comics (2008) is about a girl who plays dungeons and dragons and kills giants.  It is incredibly moving as the reader must untangle what giants Barbara is actually killing.  This is one of my favorite works - well worth the read for you and your kids.

These just touch the tip of the iceberg.  Let me know what you like and recommend!

Happy reading!