Image from http://bit.ly/1StCQOy.
Hurrah! Spring has officially arrived- at least for the most part. Although it seems to be a daily surprise here in my part of the country whether or not we will have spring or winter temperatures, I thought it was a great time for sharing some fresh, new graphic novels with you! Below are a few of my favorite titles that have been published so far this year. I’m sure you and your patrons will enjoy them!
Complete Chi’s Sweet Home: Part 2 by Konami Kanata. Vertical Comics; 2016.
Cat lovers of all ages will adore this manga series! This recently released title collects volumes four through six from Kanata’s original series. Follow Chi in her adorable adventures as she learns how to live with her adoptive family, the Yamadas, and searches for her mother.
Unicorn Vs. Goblins: Another Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure by Dana Simpson. Andrews McMeel Publishing; 2016.
The third volume in the Phoebe and Her Unicorn series delivers plenty of laughs, just like the previous two titles. Readers will follow Phoebe and her narcissistic unicorn best friend, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, on some goofy adventures. The pair visit summer music camp, hangout with Marigold’s sister, Florence Unfortunate Nostrils (ha!), and encounter a goblin queen. An especially great pick for tween readers.
The Great Pet Escape by Victoria Jamieson, Henry Holt and Co.; 2016.
The amazing creator of Newbery honor book Roller Girl has now given us this gem! Have you ever wondered what classroom pets do once the students and teachers have went home for the day? Jamieson gives us a hilarious look at the after-hours antics of the pets of Daisy P. Flugelhorn Elementary as they attempt to escape, get into a food fight, and more. Younger readers in kindergarten through second grade will be cracking up, I know I was!
The Nameless City: Volume 1 by Faith Erin Hicks. First Second; 2016.
Image from http://bit.ly/21fQDus.
This title is slated to be the beginning of a new series from Hicks and it is filled with adventure and intrigue. Two kids from opposite sides of a long-held conflict become friends in the City. It remains nameless due to the constant invasions by other nations, seeking to control the only passage through the mountains to the ocean in this well-developed fictional world. Recommended for older tween readers, this graphic novel takes on more serious issues of identity while providing plenty of fun action.
What are some of your favorite graphic novels published this year so far? Happy reading until next time!
The post Fresh Graphic Novel Picks appeared first on ALSC Blog.
The Tall Tales of Talbot Toluca aims to reignite the all-ages comic genre with exciting hidden-object games and puzzles.
Las Vegas, NV April 24,2014 – Award-winning children’s book author and illustrator Kenneth Lamug makes a jump to comics while adding twists and turns to what is usually expected in a comic book.
The Tall Tales of Talbot Toluca – The Quest for the Ore Crystals combines the high-impact visuals of comics while engaging the reader with Where’s Waldo-like hidden-object games, mazes and puzzles.
The story follows a group of friends who discover an underground military laboratory underneath their school. Their break-in unleashes a series of events, which unravels secrets to Talbot’s past. In The Quest For The Ore Crystal, the evil scientist Dr. Kadoom makes a comeback to the lab with the aim of total world destruction. It’s now up to Talbot and the reader to complete the challenges in the book and stop Dr. Kadoom.
“My hope is that this unique format engages all readers to be part of the story,” says Lamug. “I take my readers on this wild adventure and make them solve problems alongside the characters. This is inspired by my fascination with puzzles as well as the classic adventure games of the 80s and 90s. Yet unlike one-shot puzzle-books, my goal is to eventually share many more of Talbot’s tales using this same format.”
Lamug’s previous book, A Box Story, garnered four awards in its first year, an unexpected accomplishment for a first title. He hopes that adults and kids alike will respond in a positive way to this new book and seek out comics as a new medium for interactive content.
Talbott Toluca’s Kickstarter campaign starts Monday, May 12th, and will run through June 10th, 2014, all funds raised will go entirely to publishing expenses.
To learn more about the comic and the author, visit www.talbottoluca.com.
Contact:
Kenneth Lamug
[email protected]
www.talbottoluca.com
www.rabbleboy.com
A friend pointed me toward a conversation in which a 6th-grade teacher explains why he “reflexively cringe[s]” when he sees his students head for the comics and graphic novel section of the school library. His first post, which suggests that graphic novels are “nothing more than the literary equivalent of Jersey Shore for our kids,” drew an impassioned response from comics advocates. (The entire comment thread is worth reading.) In his follow-up post, the blogger acknowledges that he is, as a result of the discussion, reevaluating his stance on graphic novels, but he’s still not entirely convinced of their merits—not without informed guidance from a teacher, that is.
He wrote:
Just like iPads, graphic novels AREN’T magical tools. One of the things that blows my mind is the blind faith that many people seem to put in the ability of graphic novels to save struggling readers.
My favorite comment of this entire conversation came in my email inbox from a teacher who described graphic novels as a “fanciful dance” that:
- Encouraged visual literacy skills.
- Taught students to interpret and analyze at a deep and meaningful level.
- Introduced students to video production skills.
- Engaged readers in critical self-analysis.
Listen to those words, y’all: encouraged, taught, introduced and engaged. Books don’t do those things.
Teachers do.
(His post continues here.)
I chimed in with this response:
Teachers *may* do those things, but books certainly can and do “encourage, teach, introduce, and engage.” I’m sure you could find examples in your own life, both as a kid and an adult, when you learned something from a book without the intercession of a teacher. I can certainly point to many examples in my own life and my kids’ lives.
Here’s one: I bought a book on weaving and learned to weave by following the instructions in the book. I made hand towels and scarves without ever speaking to a weaving teacher or expert. The book taught me how.
I have certainly been “engaged” by hundreds upon hundreds of books.
A quick list of topics to which I was “introduced” by a book would include beekeeping, westward expansion, political strife in Burma, candymaking, English gardening, Greek mythology, the Salem witch trials, and–this list could go on for days! I’m sure your own list would be a mile long. 
Raina Telgemeier’s excellent middle-grade graphic novel, SMILE, has proved a source of great encouragement to my 12yo daughter as she copes with orthodontic work. SMILE, incidentally, is an example of a smart, literary graphic novel that engages readers and gets them excited about reading, sending them hunting for more great books.
Another of my children made a huge leap in reading fluency and comprehension at age six when she jumped from the Bob books (beginning reader series) to Tintin comics. Her older sisters were Tintin fans, and the 6yo would pore over the pictures and puzzle out the words, wanting to read just like the big girls. The art is what drew her in, but she desperately wanted to know what was going on in those word balloons. The vocabulary, as is often the case in graphic novels and comics, was quite sophisticated. The stories introduced her (to borrow your word) to countries and cultures all over the world. At the time, I was reading aloud to her from various children’
