1. Books Worth Reading: Engaging Material--Comics in the Classroom
- Author
-
Hall, Justin R.
- Abstract
Comic books and graphic novels are one of the newest fully fledged art forms, a vibrant, hybrid medium birthed in America and brimming with all the wildly experimental vigor of youth. Traditionally associated with children's narratives and the object of condescension and ridicule, they have only recently captured academic attention. What is happening with teaching and scholarship in the realm of comics is a very good case study of the blurring and shifting of disciplinary boundaries that is happening throughout academia, as well as the introduction of new material into the canon as it gains respect. Developing a pedagogical approach to comics and focusing students' attention on how to analyze the language of sequential storytelling will help them move through a world where visual and verbal content increasingly converge and where visual literacy is as important as verbal literacy. The author reviews a new anthology of essays edited by Stephen E. Tabachnick for the MLA series Options for Teaching--"Teaching the Graphic Novel." "Teaching the Graphic Novel" is an excellent resource for teachers dealing with comics in the classroom. The anthology is written by and for academics who want to understand how to approach graphic novels and not by or for cartoonists who want to teach.
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF