Links: Manga in schools and libraries

Editorial Anonymous chats with Calamity Jack writer Shannon Hale about hairfighting, doofuses, and the popularity of graphic novels.

Librarian Christian Zabriskie talks about how manga knits together the multicultural teenage clientele at the Queens library:

“This kind of secret, hidden knowledge gives them a power and an empowerment,” he said. “It’s this generation’s esoterica.”

But, he said, unlike other teenage rituals like graffiti or, at the extremes, gang membership, manga fandom increasingly happens at one of the safest places around — the library.

“Rather than seeking out things that may be harmful, having your secret coding be foreign literature that you read in the library is pretty great,” said Mr. Zabriskie, a lanky redhead who fell in love with comics as a boy and with manga in his 20s, when it hit the United States in the 1990s.

John Hogan talks to Rachel Renee Russell about her best-selling prose/graphic novel hybrid The Dork Diaries.

Evan Krell brought a copy of the all-ages manga Yotsuba&! to his mother’s class to see what would happen. The kids loved it, not surprisingly, so Evan dug a little deeper and did a survey of their reactions to the series.

Meanwhile, in Detroit, the Free Press calls in several experts to smack down a teacher who wouldn’t let a third-grader bring in a graphic novel for Children’s Book Week. (Via Robot 6.)

Johanna Draper Carlson has a fascinating article on Spire Christian Comics, religious versions of Archie comics, using the same characters, that were published in the 1970s.

Lori Henderson celebrates National Pet Month with a roundup of pet-oriented manga, much of it kid-friendly.

Previews

Archie comics
Cars #5
The Last Airbender: Prequel: Zuko’s Story
Uncle Scrooge #391

Reviews: The webcomic Unshelved  has a review of Jane Yolen and Mike Cavallaro’s Foiled in comics form. At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson reviews an assortment of recent graphic novels for kids.

Michael May on Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess (Robot 6)
Michael Buntag on Bone: Rose (NonSensical Words)
Kelly Fineman on Booth (Guys Lit Wire)
Rob McMonigal on Blue Monday (Panel Patter)
Stacy Dillon on Copper (Welcome to my Tweendom)
Chris Wilson on vol. 1 of Dinosaur King (The Graphic Classroom)
Seaberry on Disney’s Heroes Squad: Ultraheroes #4 (Geeks of Doom)
Brigid Alverson on Geronimo Stilton: The Secret of the Sphinx (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Rob Clough on Graphic Classics: Little Women (The Comics Journal)
Collin David on Gunnerkrigg Court, Vol. 2: Research (Graphic Novel Reporter)
J. Caleb Mozzocco on Solomon’s Thieves, Book 1 (Blog@Newsarama)
Peter Gutierrez on vol. 2 of Yokaiden (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Richard Bruton on Yoko Tsuno, vol. 4: Daughter of the Wind (fictions)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 4 of Yotsuba&! (Panel Patter)
Travis Jonker on Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework (100 Scope Notes)
Nicola on Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework (Back to Books)

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