Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comics

"The Comic Book Project engages children in a creative process leading to literacy reinforcement, social awareness, and character development, then publishes and distributes their work for other children in the community to use as learning and motivational tools." Objectives: 1) Academic Reinforcement: Children reinforce and improve their literacy skills through the arts by engaging in a fun, project-oriented, and creative process. 2) Social and Character Development: Children use the project as a pathway to personal understanding and cultural tolerance, which are illustrated by their own artistic creations and displayed in a variety of formats. 3) Community Building: Children spread positive messages to other children and adults in the community via the distribution of their work to community outlets such as schools, after-school programs, and community centers.

It hovers between picture book and graphic novel but another cool introductory book (to show it's not all Bam! and Pow!) might by Arrival by Shaun Tan. Entirely wordless, it depicts the diversity of the immigrant experience. The illustrations are hard to describe, but 'amazing' and 'otherworldly' will do for now.

Spanish comic

Forthcoming book: Black Comix: African American Independent Comics, Art, & Culture http://www.amazon.com/Black-Comix-African-American-Independent/dp/0984190651/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260286879&sr=8-1/

from the University of Kentucky

Marvel's part "of the historical comic book series 'Epic Battles of the Civil War'." Very cool!

"Comic book industry news, gossip, rumour, reviews, previews, features, interviews and general tomfoolery. Imagine Harry Knowles DNA genetically spliced with Stan Lee's, cultured, grown, raised and then pushed head first into a shredder."

"Full of practical advice and innovative ideas for librarians, educators, and archivists, this book provides a wide-reaching look at how graphic novels and comics can be used to their full advantage in educational settings. Topics include the historically tenuous relationship between comics and librarians; the aesthetic value of sequential art; the use of graphic novels in library outreach services; collection evaluations for both American and Canadian libraries; cataloging tips and tricks; and the swiftly growing realm of webcomics. "

"Associated with the Graphic Narrative Project at Stanford University (graphicnarratives.stanford.edu). Academic and non-academic reference database on all sorts of issues related to graphic narratives, including graphic novels, manga, comics, webcomics, illustration of literature, cartooning, etc."

Graphic novel adapted by Robert Berry from the novel by James Joyce