Erik Evensen and the Curious Case of the Slaughtering Sasqui: A Review of _The Beast of Wolfe's Bay_

Erik Evensen’s latest graphic novel, The Beast of Wolfe’s Bay, is part rural legend/supernatural adventure story, part romance, part parody of academic life. Brian Wegman, struggling doctoral candidate in Anthropology, is called upon to help small town cops in rustic Wolfe’s Bay solve a murder mystery, despite many considering him unqualified for the job. Along the way, he reunites with childhood acquaintance Freddie Roth, an attractive comparative literature professor as comfortable talking about folklore as she is making pop culture references. The two become fast foils, then friends, then more than friends as they fight Wegman’s severe career fatigue, a jealous investigator, an army of wendigos and their unhinged human leader, Dr. Greta Wendel.

References to the epic Beowulf are interlaced throughout the story; for example, Dr. Wendel’s character is a Grendel analogue. “Hwait!” begins the tale. Wolfe’s Bay is in Heorot County. In the closing notes, Evensen, a Xeric Award winner for his graphic novel Gods of Asgard, suggests that the book was planned as a more direct retelling but ended up as a sort of half-baked Beowulf, and while it is true that the text runs less than a hundred pages and is not an exact adaptation of the epic set to contemporary times, it doesn’t have to be for uninformed readers to enjoy it on the surface as a fun, thrilling narrative or for the more literary-inclined to appreciate the numerous interspersed allusions.

                                     The first page and invocation for The Beast of Wolfe's Bay

Indeed, high school teachers could use the text to help explore differences between adaptations and stories that are “inspired by” other texts. Intertextuality is comprised of ranges, after all. Readers in college – especially those in graduate school – and more than a few doctorates should get a kick out of seeing professors and university cultures take a few pokes and jabs. Unless they’re sensitive like Dr. Wendel, in which case I’d advise them to take field work in a remote location and never return to “normal” life, as does she.

Quirky, quixotic, and upbeat, The Beast of Wolfe’s Bay asks readers to balance between anticipating new love and anticipating criminal resolution, between jokey asides and literary subtexts. Often the plot-driving presence of hulking, killing sasqui is just a strange after note. Embedded within is a subtle critique of the problems associated with high cultures vs. low cultures arguments and their inherent notions of “worth,” and Evensen seems to suggest that no matter what one values and thinks is “real” or important, time, literatures, and life choices always push against the boundaries of normalcy – and accepting that might be the key to ending one’s quest happily.

Proof I Ain't Just Spoutin' Off @ the Mouth!

Super-Powered Word Study is a finalist for the 2011 Next Generation Indie book Awards. I'm going to blog about this more once I know what I can and can't say (and when). In the meantime, feast your eyes on this nice certificate for verification that I ain't no liar!

Did You Miss My *Super-Powered Word Study* Webinar? No Worries! Listen to the Archived Version for Free!

On February 5, 2011, I had the honor of being the first Maupin House author to be part of a free, public webinar. Over an hour and fifteen minutes, I discussed the concepts behind Super-Powered Word Study, a recent book co-authored with Erik A. Evensen that pulls from comics literacy research, morphology study, word sorting, dual coding theory, language exploration and awareness, and more.

So you couldn't make it. Big deal. The entire thing is archived!

To listen to the presentation, click here , then click "View Event Recordings," then click "Graphic novels in the Classroom." Viola!

You'll get to hear my dulcet voice along with the sweetness of Maupin House's Rebecca Lukowski and Making Curriculum Pop's Ryan Goble.

The MP/MCP machine is organizing more webinars, too, so be on the lookout for announcements.

Webinar on *Super-Powered Word Study* Coming Feb. 5, 2011!

Please join me and Ryan Goble, host of the Making Curriculum Pop ning for teachers, as we talk about comics, vocabulary acquisition, and literacy on February 5, 2011. We'll begin the webinar at 1 p.m. Eastern and hope to have an informative, interactive experience that will share information about Super-Powered Word Study and the interconnections of comics and learning, focusing specifically on morphology (the study of affixes and roots) and authentic learning and assessment.

Click here to register.

Hope to see you soon!

Katie Monnin's GNR Interview with Erik Evensen and Lil Ol' Me!

Katie Monnin's been on fire lately!She's got another book coming out; she's been on TV, and she's talking GN's with Jacksonville-area parents.

Here she triumphs in making a dullard like me seem interesting, assisted by my friend Erik A. Evensen. The bulk of the interview is about our groovy new book Super-Powered Word Study, which combines comics and morphology in keen ways, daddy-o!

*SPWS* Has Its First Review!

From Midwest Book Review, it reads, "Super-Powered Word Study" is a workbook for younger readers using the format of comics to teach the more subtle nuances of the English language and word structure through various comics with a unique style sure to educate as it entertains with its charm. Enhanced with an additional DVD with more resources, "Super-Powered Word Study" is a fine pick for anyone seeking to educate their students further through their own interests.

Hot Off the Presses!

Rebecca Lukowski of Maupin House marketing and copy editor Marilee Griffin model Super-Powered Word Study and Rationales for Teaching Graphic Novels. What can I say? Somedays it is good to be me.

Mighty Morphin' Vocabulary Rangers!: Articles in Recent JAAL and Reading Teacher Jibe Well with *Super-Powered Word Study*

The September issues of Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy and The Reading Teacher both feature articles on vocabulary instruction that jibe well with the pedagogical underpinnings of Super-Powered Word Study, available in November from Maupin House.


Specifically, Michael J. Keiffer and Nonie K. Lessaux's "Morphing Into Adolescents: Active Word Learning for English-Language Learners and Their Classmates in Middle School" and Joan G. Kelley, Nonie K. Lesaux, Michael K. Keiffer and S. Elisabeth Faller's "Effective Academic Vocabulary Instruction in the Urban Middle School" focus on academic language and morphology. *


"Effective" informs readers that many urban middle school students struggle to understand and use academic vocabulary, which is often rife with ancient roots and affixes. But, when students use "morphological awareness skills," they "gain the cognitive tools they need to learn a large number of words independently."


Students need to learn how to use context clues, of course, which is just one of the many things covered in Super-Powered Word Study.


Both SPWS and these articles suggest overt, explicit, interest-based exploration of language with students drawing on texts they appreciate and are already inclined to be interested in.


Comics, anyone? There are 15 comics stories awaiting students in SPWS, along with suggestion on teaching morphology and developing language exploration skills and attitudes!


Both articles suggest particular attention to morphology as pertinent to vocabulary growth. "Morphing Into" reminds us that morphology is "the study of the structure of words as combinations of smaller units of meaning within words: morphemes," and morphemes include affixes and roots, the exact units of focus in Super-Powered Word Study.


"Morphing Into" suggests that teachers help students when they teach morphology in "an explicit yet meaningful way," as part of a "thinking strategy" rather than as "a bunch of rules or lists of word parts."

Considering what words have in common and are unique is one such way of doing this, and the authors even use a figure to illustrate "Word Sets" that look very much like word sorts, which students can do in SPWS to help them consider morphemes.


Further, students and teachers are encouraged by both articles and SPWS to adapt an explicit language exploration ideology in considering words.

"To exponentially increase vocabulary, students need to develop word consciousness and a curiosity about words," says "Effective." Super-Powered Word Study agrees and helps teachers tap into our innate interest in language by explaining how Larry Andrews' Language Exploration and Awareness theory can help us morph into active language explorers and linguistic inquirers.


"Morphing Into" suggests a 4-step process in which students must endeavor to study words morphologically. Step one involves word recognition study; step two requests overt study of word parts they might know; step 3 asks for hypotheses regarding word parts, and step 4 suggests hypothesis checking.

Students using SPWS will be asked to follow similar processes when they use riddles to figure out/hypothesize meanings of words featuring specific roots or affixes, sort words by their features, and record their observations and hypotheses in their word study journals.

"Effective" also suggests that at the end of each unit, students write, integrating new words, to suggest their mastery over them. All of SPWS's assessments are based in creative writing and ask students to do exactly as this article suggests. "Effective" asks for 5 words in a paragraph, whereas SPWS asks for 6 and also asks students to use "clue language" to show they have also mastered using context clues.

As anyone involved in academic work will tell you that keeping abreast of current research is difficult and tiring work. Further, when it comes to book writing, you're always taking risks that your book will hit the market and then new research will come along to blow its premises out of the water.

And, of course, there's no way to read research published alongside your book or after the book has been "set" such that you can integrate it into the book. There comes a time when you just gotta do the Anne Bradstreet thing and watch your baby walk to school, where you hope it does well.

So, Erik and I certainly did not have access to the classroom-based research coming out of these articles when we wrote Super-Powered Word Study, though many of the sources cited in each article also appear in our book, but isn't is wonderful to know that concepts and findings associated with this brand new research fits the goals and aspirations for students of Super-Powered Word Study?

I think so and think you will to!

Sincerely,
James Bucky Carter,
Co-author of... Well, do I have to write it out again? ;)
~~~~

*Hey, I edited and wrote chapters for Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels: Page by PAge, Panel by Panel. Do you think I have any hate for the long title? Further, I'm refering to the articles as if they wrote themselves simply becuase I don't want to write all of those names over and over. Titles are one thing: they can be turned into acronyms and keep reader's comprehension going without much trouble. BLCWGN:PBPPBP anyone? Authors' names? Not so much.

Disk Art for _Super-Powered Word Study!_

Not only does Super-Powered Word Study bring you 160 pages of comics and vocabulary goodness, but it has a special DVD software package as well! Here's the disk art:

_Super-Powered Word Study_ is Available!

For pre-order, that is, but the book is officially public now!

Here's the press from Maupin House:

Whether you’re a principal, teacher, summer camp instructor, parent, or student, you’ll enjoy the vocabulary-building adventures in Super-Powered Word Study. Weekly word study instruction is combined with short mini-comics that illustrate the meanings of words and word parts in context, making the exploration of roots, suffixes, and affixes fun and engaging for all students in grades five and up. Reluctant readers and ELL students of all grades are especially motivated by comics’ high-interest visual narratives.

Super-Powered Word Study includes fifteen weeks’ worth of stimulating study and creative activities that ask students to think about language, consider word formation, and create their own stories—all in just twenty minutes a day! Each week introduces two word parts students interact with through riddle cards, word study notebooks, word sorts, word hunts, and practice assessments they create for their peers. Word sort lists, comics, writing assessment prompts, and optional extension activities offer endless opportunities for creative writing and language exploration. A comics primer and a DVD with all of the comics stories, riddle cards, word study notebook pages, sample comics scripts, and comics templates give teachers the support they need to build vocabulary knowledge and encourage students’ imaginations to run wild. The DVD also supports each of the fifteen lessons with interactive eCard word sorts, eComics with clickable clues, and opportunities for students to create their own comics and assessments.

Make your word study super-powered!

Pin-Up Style Promo for _Super-Powered Word Study_

Wouldn't you love a full-sized poster of this image for your classroom? I added the letters and the MP logo at the bottom and cropped the title art from the front cover and put it in the top left. When my co-author Erik A. Evensen, who handled the art for the book, sent me this image (which will be part of the back cover), I felt it was too good not to share!

Featured: Polly "Popular" Lopez; Trans-Phat; the Communicator; Green Tonya: She-Student with a Sword, and the Vegetarian.

Preview Chatter on the Comics in Super-Powered Word Study

Click the link to visit Maupin House's blog, where I talk a little about each of the 15 mini-comics in the upcoming Super-Powered Word Study.

The Image that got away (Just for fun!)

While not all 15 comics shorts from Super-Powered Word Study were represented in the unofficial promo video I recently posted, this image below was supposed to make it. Can you tell what we're spoofing here?

Unofficial Promo Video for _Super-Powered Word Study_

_Super-Powered Word Study_ Cover!

Featuring 15 weeks worth of word sorts revolving around a different pair of affixes or roots each week, creative writing-based assessments, extension activities, and exciting comics stories to help students learn and use words in context, Super-Powered Word Study will be available to schools, teachers, and kids across the nation in a few short months from Maupin House. Here's the amazing front cover.

Introducing _Super-Powered Word Study_!: Spec Art

(Color mock up for possible cover art)

Coming this fall, Super-Powered Word Study combines word sorting of roots and affixes with elements of dual coding theory, language exploration and awareness theory, creative writing and the best of visual literacy and comics-as-literacy research to bring folks in grades 5 and up exciting weekly activities designed to enhance students' vocabulary and linguistic inquiry skills.

Click the title to this link to learn a little bit more about this project from Maupin House, its publisher. Also, you can do a keyword search for "upcoming projects" on this blog for some teaser images.

While I can't yet show you the cover to the book, I happily show you some spec art for the project below. Enjoy, and if you like these images, just wait till you have the opportunity to see the entire project, set for release fall 2010!

(Various cover designs)