This great op-ed covers what is going well with publishing, comics, and literacy and suggests where things need to improve. It also advocates for comics in the classroom and draws attention to something I heard about but missed at last year's NCTE:
You might be surprised at how many mainstream authors fell in love with reading books because of comics. I see them at comics conferences where they recall stories of their favorite comic characters with warmth, passion and enthusiasm. Just last year, the author Junot Diaz told an auditorium full of educators and librarians at the National Council of Teachers of English Conference (NCTE) that he feels kids should only be allowed to read comics in school until they were in 7th grade so we would engage them. For a man who has won the Pulitzer Prize, happens to teach at MIT, and grew up reading comics, that should give you a sense of the value that graphic novels bring to reading.
That's a pretty big endorsement, eh?
What I like about John's piece is that it shows a lot of heart. He's calling for publishers to reach out to young audiences, but he's also asking them to produce quality work. To facilitate the learning of youngsters, not pander to them and their teachers with false promises and hastily-published products.
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