Reading with Pictures - The Graphic Textbook
Below is the press release. Let's discuss.
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is proud to present…
The Graphic Textbook: Comics That Make You Smarter
The Graphic Textbook brings together some of the finest
creative talents – including Fred Van Lente, Ryan Dunlavey, Janet Lee
and Roger Langridge – in the comic industry with the leading experts in
visual literacy and comic-based curriculum – including Dr. Katie Monnin
and Dr. James Bucky Carter – to create a gamechanging educational tool
for the classroom and beyond.
Aimed at grades 3-6, The Graphic Textbook features short
stories that address topics drawn from the list of Common Core
Standards. The accompanying Teacher’s Edition will include
Standards-correlated lesson plans customized to each story,
research-based justifications for using comics in the classroom, a guide
to establishing best classroom practices and a comprehensive listing of
additional educational resources, both in print and online.
The Graphic Textbook will be financed entirely through a
Kickstarter campaign set to launch in April. The book itself is set for a
spring 2013 release in both print and digital formats.
We hope that we can count on your support in April and beyond as we strive to revolutionize the role of comics in the classroom.
CREATORS
- Social Studies
- “George Washington: Action President” by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey
- “Crogan’s Revolution” by Chris Schweizer
- “Field Trip” by Russell Lissau and Marvin Mann
- Math
- “Finding Ivy” by Michael Bramley and Alice Meichi Li
- “Probamon!” by Geoffrey Golden and Nate Pride
- Creator to Be Announced
- Language Arts
- “Special Delivery to Shangri-La” by Mike Lee and Janet Lee
- “Albert the Alien in ‘It’s a Figure of Speech!’” by Trevor Mueller and Gabriel Bautista
- “The Power of Print” by Katie Cook
- Science
- “Doctor Sputnik: Man of Science” by Roger Langridge
- “Like Galileo…” by James Peaty and Tintin Pantoja
- “Mail Order Ninja in Showdown with the Sea Apes!” by Josh Elder and Dean Trippe
- Introduction
- Gene Yang
EDUCATIONAL TEAM
- Dr. David Rapp
- Dr. Katie Monnin
- Dr. James Bucky Carter
- Sari Wilson
- Tracy Edmunds, MA
- Jennifer Kim, MA Ed.
EDITORIAL TEAM
- Josh Elder, editor-in-chief
- Brandon Montclare, editor
- Paul Morrissey, editor
Complete Story Summaries and Creator/Staff Bios
SOCIAL STUDIES
George Washington: Action President by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey
“ Action Presidents features the
true lives and times of the people who have led the United States – and
we’re starting at the very beginning, with George Washington! We explore the causes of the Revolution, why the brand-new American government felt it needed a president in the first place, and why everyone in the country knew the first one had to be George Washington … everyone that is, except George Washington himself!”
Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey are the award-winning creators of Action Philosophers (Evil Twin) and The Comic Book History of Comics (IDW).
Crogan’s Revolution by Chris Schweizer
“ During the Revolutionary War, British loyalist Charles Crogan finds
himself working alongside Corporal Tye, the real-life leader of an
all-black commando unit fighting for the Crown.”
Chris Schweizer is a professor of Sequential Art at the SCAD-Atlanta, but is best known in the comic community for creating Crogan Adventures, a
line of historical fiction graphic novels that have been named to the
American Library Association’s list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens
among numerous other awards and accolades.
Field Trip by Russell Lissau and Marvin Mann
“ A field trip to an art museum goes dull to AMAZING when the class
reaches the hall of arms and armor and begin imagining themselves as
knights during the age of chivalry!”
Russell Lissau is an award-winning comic book writer and journalist. His credits include The Batman Strikes!, Strawberry Shortcake and Reading With Pictures: An Educational Anthology.
Marvin Mann has drawn and occasionally written
webcomics, mini-comics, black and white and color pamphlets, comics
using 3D modeling software, comics for the iPhone and four graphic
novels, The Lone and Level Sands, Inanna’sTears, Some New Kind of Slaughter and The Grave Doug Freshley from Archaia.
MATH
Finding Ivy by Michael Bramley and Alice Meichi Li
“ A magical fantasy in the vein of Through the Looking Glass set in the world of a fantastical clockface.”
Alice Meichi Li, true to her namesake, ponders
curiouser things and proceeds to ensnare them within the confines of her
canvas. Fall down the rabbit hole at http://alicemeichi.com/
Michael Bramley has been a fan of comics from a
young age. Teachers would reprimand him for trying to read comics during
quiet time and for drawing monsters in the margins of his school
notebooks. Nowadays Michael lives in NYC with his wife, Alice, and
spends all day making things up for his webcomic, Hadron Colliderscope.
Probamon! by Geoffrey Golden and Nate Pride
“ Math Addem keeps losing Probamon monster battles because he doesn’t
think through his chances of winning. Luckily, his friends Multi and
Bracket know the odds and decide to help Math out.”
Geoffrey Golden writes humor for major studios and
entertainment outlets, like Warner Bros, Fox, Capcom, National Lampoon,
Cracked Magazine, Comedy.com, Lionsgate and more. In 2010, Geoffrey
successfully fundraised to start The Devastator, “the quarterly comedy magazine for humans” that features writers and artists from Conan, The Simpsons, Onion News Network, Marvel and DC Comics.
Nathan Pride’s background in design and publishing
with Caliber Comics (1990-2002), afforded him exposure to all the
creative sides of producing illustrative and graphic storytelling work.
His recent work appears in Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, which won a 2011 Will Eisner Award for Best Anthology.
LANGUAGE ARTS
Special Delivery to Shangri-La by Mike Lee and Janet Lee
“A boy, his airship, and a mysterious box tied with red satin ribbon.
Young Jules Verne and his companions are on a special mission to
Shangri-La – but can they reach the legendary city in time?”
Mike Lee is a novelist, game designer and
scriptwriter who never outgrew the wild adventures of his youth. When
not battling space pirates or hunting rogue secret agents, he lives with
his family in Nashville, Tennessee.
Eisner-Award winning artist Janet K. Lee is the illustrator of Return of the Dapper Men
and two Marvel adaptations of Jane Austen novels. She lives in
Nashville with her novelist husband, young son, a very sweet dog, and a
very bad cat.
Albert the Alien in “It’s a Figure of Speech” by Trevor Mueller and Gabriel Bautista
“Hijinks ensue when Albert, an alien exchange student going to school on earth, interprets figures of speech all too literally…”
Trevor Mueller works in advertising by day and
writes comics by night. In 2009, Trevor joined Reading With Pictures as
their Marketing Director, combining his love of comics, education and
advertising.
Gabriel Bautista is an indy comic artist and an Eisner Award-winning colorist. His work can be seen in Image’s Popgun Vol. 2 and Elephantmen, while his coloring work can be seen in DC Comics’ The Spirit and All-Star Western.
The Power of Print by Katie Cook
“A chronicle of the history of the printed word and the evolution of print as a medium from stone tablets to digital tablets!”
Katie Cook is an illustrator and comic book artist currently best known for her work on Star Wars, Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock and the Eisner-Award winning anthology Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard.
SCIENCE
Doctor Sputnik, Man of Science by Roger Langridge
“Doctor Sputnik, Man of Science, and his dim-witted assistant, Spud,
bravely explain the basic principles of Force and Motion. Newton’s laws,
friction, gravity and momentum have never made you laugh this hard!”
Roger Langridge has been producing
comics for over twenty years. Most recently, he has attracted critical
attention for his work on the Harvey Award-winning Muppet Show Comic Book and Thor: The Mighty Avenger. Other works of note include Marvel’s Fin Fang Four, Fantagraphics’ Zoot! and Art d’Ecco (in collaboration with his brother Andrew), and the NCS, Ignatz, Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated comic book Fred the Clown.
Like Galileo… b y James Peaty and Tintin Pantoja
“A detention teacher and rebellious student discuss Galileo—and their
discussion begins to change both minds and the visual world around
them.”
An established comic-book writer both in the UK and US, James Peaty has worked on titles including Batman, Green Arrow and Supergirl for DC Comics, as well as a two-year run on the Marvel Heroes title
for Panini UK. Aside from his comic book work, James is also a lecturer
at London Metropolitan University in the faculty of Law, Governance and
International Relations.
Tintin Pantoja was born in Manila and received a BFA
in Illustration and Cartooning at the school of Visual Arts in New
York, leading to a career in comics and commercial illustration. In
2005, she was nominated for the Friends of Lulu ‘Best Newcomer’ award
and her published works include Hamlet: The Manga Edition for Wiley, three volumes of Manga Math for Lerner Graphic Universe and a story in Reading With Pictures: An Educational Comics Anthology.
Mail Order Ninja in “Showdown with the Sea Apes” by Josh Elder and Dean Trippe
“Timmy McAllister and his mail order ninja, Jiro Yoshida, must face
down the school bully and his pack of genetically engineered
primate/crustacean hybrids, the Sea Apes, in order to find who rules the
school!”
Josh Elder is the Founder and President of Reading
With Pictures and the writer and editor of a great many things,
including novels, videogames and, of course, comics. He is best-known as
the writer and co-creator of Mail Order Ninja and for his work on StarCraft:Frontline and The Batman Strikes.
Dean Trippe is a writer and illustrator best known for his all-ages superhero webcomic, Butterfly, the children’s book series Power Lunch from Oni Press with writer J. Torres, and as the co-founder and co-editor of Project: Rooftop.
EDUCATIONAL TEAM
Dr. David N. Rapp is Associate Professor at
Northwestern University in the Learning Sciences in the School of
Education and Social Policy, and in Cognitive Psychology in the
Department of Psychology. He is a member of the Reading With Pictures’
Board of Directors and his research examines the cognitive mechanisms
underlying successful and unsuccessful learning.
Dr. Katie Monnin is an Assistant Professor of Literacy at the University of North Florida. She is also the author of Teaching Graphic Novels (2010) and finalist for ForeWord’s Education Book of the Year Award, Teaching Early Reader Comics and Graphic Novels (2011), Really Reading with Graphic Novels (2012), and Teaching Content Area Graphic Novels (2012).
Dr. James Bucky Carter is an Assistant Professor of
English Education at the University of Texas at El Paso. He studies the
intersections of literacy and comics and has authored and edited
multiple books and articles on the subject.
Sari Wilson is an educational consultant and writer whose clients
include Scholastic, PBS, Teachers & Writers Collaborative, and
Random House academic marketing. Her fiction and comics writing has
appeared in literary journals such as Agni and The Oxford American.
Tracy Edmunds, M.A., is an educational author,
editor, curriculum developer, and comics enthusiast. In her nine years
as a primary classroom teacher, she experienced first-hand the power of
comics in teaching and learning.
Jennifer Kim, M.A.Ed., is an editor, trainer, and
math enthusiast. She was a K–8 educator and instructional math coach for
over a decade and knows the importance of novelty in teaching math to
kids.
EDITORIAL TEAM
Josh Elder is the Founder and President of Reading
With Pictures and the writer and editor of a great many things,
including novels, videogames and, of course, comics. He is best-known as
the writer and co-creator of Mail Order Ninja and for his work on StarCraft:Frontline and The Batman Strikes.
Brandon Montclare has been a lifelong fan of comics
and been employed in some part of the business since he was 12 years
old. He’s worked as an editor at TokyoPop (Rising Stars of Manga) and DC Comics (All-Star Superman, Batman: Year 100, Hellblazer). Nowadays he’s even started to write here and there (Batman, Hulk).
Paul Morrissey is an Eisner-Award-winning editor of several acclaimed comic books and graphic novels, including The Muppet Show, Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, and Fraggle Rock.
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