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In the early 2000s, upon learning that I was a cartoonist as well as writer, my Scholastic editor Virginia Dooley proposed an update to a 1960s book that used cartoons to teach vocabulary. She (postal) mailed me samples from the book. The cartoons used pistols, cigarettes, and other elements you would not see in a typical children’s book today.
The book may not have been aimed at young people.
In any case, the idea was to create 180 cartoons, one for every day of the school year—new words, new gags. It seemed like a fun challenge.
Vocabulary Cartoon of the Day (grades 4-6) came out in 2005.
A keynoter at a SCBWI conference I’d attended sometime before then said that in 1945, the average schoolchild’s vocabulary consisted of 10,000 words…and now, only 2,500.
At professional development seminars where I spoke, I would tell the audience that, if nothing else, this book would help increase that number to 2,680.
After repeated requests at those professional development seminars, we did a second one for a younger age range (illustrated by the total pro Mike Moran). It came out in 2010.
So I took to Google. But it turns out my searches for books with “vocabulary” and “cartoon” in the title were for naught.
The title of the book, I believe, was Word-a-Day, by Mickey Bach. It came out in 1964, and it does appear that it was indeed published by Scholastic (or at least one edition was).
Apparently, Mickey Bach (1909-1994) churned out these illustrated vocab builders (they were not called vocabulary cartoons) from the 1940s to the mid-1980s.
Here are a few demonstrating why the plan was redo rather than reissue:Guns.
Smoking.
Boozing.
Beating.
Heaps of thanks to the kind and resourceful Rebecca Knab of Loganberry Books for solving this mystery, especially with so little to go on.
In 2010, my book Vocabulary Cartoon of the Day (grades 2-3), illustrated by Mike Moran (whom I have still not met), came out.
In 2012, my author friend Jennifer Allison (whose son portrayed Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel for a school project) asked for recommendations for good cartoonists.
I suggested Mike.
And he was the one hired to illustrate Jennifer’s 2013 book Iggy Loomis, Superkid in Training.I love when this happens!
(It’s the first time this has happened.)
(For me, anyway.)
Good luck with Iggy, Jennifer and Mike!
Friends and I got to talking and I mentioned I plan to develop apps based on a few of my books. One friend, Sara, said, “Bill Finger?”
We then collaborated on the idea for such an app: open the app and walk by any comic containing any Batman story and it will tell you if that Batman story was written by Bill Finger.
In 12/13, I received a compelling email from Tayyab Ajmal in Pakistan:
I teach primary, secondary and tertiary students (poor/needy) English but its all pathetic situation. We do not have books, libraries or book shops over here in my city. The habit of reading is dying day by day which is not a good thing.
Can you plz send a copy of Vocabulary Cartoon of the Day book.
Despite how much I dread waiting in line at the post office (I value the service but it sometimes seems they go slow on purpose), I immediately said yes. Tayyab’s excerpted response:
thanks for your reply as i thought i am from Pakistan and so no one will reply.
This was heartbreaking.
Tayyab asked several more questions:
Is it ok if i can be in loop like asking some questions regarding English language, vocab and grammar etc. in future?
Do you know any tutor/post grad student on Skype who can be my MENTOR.
Can you advise any classic movies for improving English. I am a big fan of Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.
I said yes, no, and yes, and recommended movies including Twelve Angry Men and The Sound of Music.
I asked if Tayyab discovered me because I wrote a children’s book about Pakistan many years ago:
He said yes and then asked the following: Is it possible if i can get a Tablet PC (new/used) as a donation. It would be a really good AID to teach as i do not have my PC. Can you check with your family and friends as its CHRISTMAS ahead so any one like to GIVE/GIFT.
I do not need an expensive one just a normal one with normal specs like i can teach through videos, play audio files, share picture/photo for vocab building etc. [He sent this link.]
In response to this, I cut him a deal. I asked him to send me photos of his students with the books I would send and in exchange I’d blog about this experience—including a call to action to raise the money to send this clearly passionate teacher a tool that would be a relatively small cost for some of us and a huge asset for him. He sent photos:
How to help improve a few lives (AKA Kickstarter Lite):
Please simply PayPal me $5; to do that, all you need is approximately 27 seconds and my email, [email protected]. (If you prefer to mail a check, email me for my address.)
To make this happen, I estimate we’ll need about $250, including shipping. That’s only 50 people contributing only $5. (Of course, should you wish to give more, that will be gladly welcomed. Also welcomed: suggestions as to which tablet to get him.)
Once we hit the goal, I’ll stop accepting donations and add an addendum here indicating the effort has completed successfully.
We’ll likely never meet Tayyab or his students, but we will know the effect of this small gesture.
I’ll again ask him to send us a photo of his students, this time with the tablet PC.
It’s always an honor when a young person chooses a book you wrote for a school project. It is a special honor when that young person happens to be the child of a fellow author. (Not every writer passes on genetic code for a talent in writing but I suspect all writers hope we pass on at least refined taste in writing.)
The young man’s name is Max. The fellow author, his mom, also happens to be my friend. Her name is Jennifer Allison. She also gave birth to Gilda Joyce via a series of mystery novels for young readers.
Here is Max’s report, which I find both flattering and factually sound:
Here is Max:
Thank you Max! You are now a Boy of Steel, too. And Jennifer will be featured on this blog again later this year. I won’t say why yet but will give this clue. Maybe this is one for Gilda Joyce herself to solve...
Here's a cheeky nod to two other books I've written:
Here's a friendly jab at digital diehards:
In 2005, the first of my two Scholastic books called Vocabulary Cartoon of the Day came out. Shortly after, a company called Educational Insights called me to ask if I would like to create a similar product, but in mini-poster form.
Thus was begot a three-product series called “Word of the Week,” each for a different (but overlapping) grade range.
Like the cartoons in my Scholastic books, each Word of the Week cartoon contains a vocabulary word; to get the gag, you must learn the definition. The idea is to display one cartoon a week for the entire school year.
When supply allows, I give these packs out as thank yous to schools that invite me. It’s always a good sign to me when an educator or a school is willing to incorporate humor in education. We r
Part 2.
I just completed my second week, 26th and final school, and 30th hour of talking on Guam. Below are glimpses. I ship out obscenely early tomorrow. But first, I want to share glimpses of a Guam I do not know—Guam after a typhoon.
The weather during my time was mostly fine—always humid and regularly sunny with brief, often intense jags of rain each day. Often, when coming out of an hourlong school presentation, I found that the precipitation situation was the opposite of what it had been when I'd gone in.
Nicole, one of the kind souls who volunteered to drive me from school to school, told me of Super Typhoon Pamela (1976), when she was seven years old. Its high winds knocked out power...and it was not restored for six months.
After the storm passed, people islandwide barbecued so as not to let meat go to waste. With charcoal sold out, Nicole's mother asked Nicole's brother if she could burn his Lincoln Logs; he said yes. Nicole's father would bring back buckets of water from the ocean to flush their toilets.
I'm told the people of Guam experience a super-sized storm roughly every 10-12 years, but the infrastructure has improved since Pamela, so the situations Nicole's family encountered may not be as prevalent going forward.
I did experience one weather-related incident. At one of the three schools on my last day, an unusual circumstance caused one presentation to start slightly late. It had begun to lightning shortly before I arrived. Because some of the classroom doors at this school were metal and because they opened to the outside, the administration waited till the storm passed to let the students out of the classrooms.
Somewhat randomly: There is no AC on Guam. There is only "air con." (To clarify, they don't use the abbreviation "AC" for "air conditioning.")
I love this note so much. Especially the cryptic "octopus."
Many of the kids wore headbands with this custom logo
they designed for me.
In 2005, the only book I've both written and illustrated came out: Vocabulary Cartoon of the Day (grades 4-6).
It was the result of a Scholastic editor I'd already written several books for asking if I'd like to update a book of the same name that had been published during the Space Race. It wasn't that the words defined then were no longer in use and it wasn't that the cartoons were no longer funny (though there was some of that). It was that the cartoons included things that are no longer considered "kid-friendly." Guns. Cigarettes. Sixties hairdos.
So I came up with a new list of 180 words and a kid-friendly cartoon built around each of them. No weapons. No carcinogens. No cars, either, but that's just because I don't like drawing boxy things.
Then I built a presentation around the book for professional development seminars. For three years, educators asked if I'd do a similar book for grades 2-3. Each time, I passed word to Scholastic. Apparently vocab books were not selling, so each time, they said no. Except the last time.
Only this time, I only wrote. My drawing style was deemed not cutesy enough for kids that young, which is sometimes true. They hired cartoonist Mike Moran, and the book looks great. He handled revision requests speedily and graciously. I asked if his name could also be on the cover but that is not house style for this Scholastic imprint.
Two other noteworthy differences in this book: one, we provide an index, and two, teachers provided the words. Last year, I put out a call for entries to second and third grade teachers, soliciting words they would like their students to learn; I received hundreds of suggestions. Every vocabulary word defined in the book came from the lists the teachers e-mailed me. So it is co-authored, in a sense, by its audience.
The book is due out in February and the cover recently went online:
As with the first book, I would have chosen a different cartoon for the cover (one in which the gag is more visual), but otherwise, I'm thrilled with how it came out.
Today I ran my workshop "The Language of Cartoons: What's So Funny?" at the all-boys Browning School in New York City. The participants were a small group of 12th graders whose Spanish teacher assigned them to adapt a portion of a Spanish-language novel into a graphic novel(la).
They went in not realizing they speak Cartoon. I went in not speaking Spanish.
They left realizing they speak Cartoon. I left not speaking Spanish.
Today a Borders in Connecticut kindly hosted me as part of Educator Appreciation Week. I had written it down on my calendar as Educator Awareness Week.
"Hey, you're a teacher! I've heard about you people!" And I was planning to lead my short talk with that joke-like statement, but I ended up cutting it. And the rest of the talk. Because there was no audience.
As many authors will tell you, these things happen. And in retrospect, they make for great entries in books.
I did an Educator Appreciation Week event at Borders in 2005, and attendance then was fairly brisk. But it was also opening day. Plus I think there were cookies. Today, the rain boded well, but apparently this was one of the last days of the event. Also, no cookies. While teachers did show up, not enough at any one time to do my presentation.
Still, I did manage to sell a few copies of the two books I was there to introduce (Vocabulary Cartoon of the Day and Quick Nonfiction Writing Activities that Really Work). Plus I also brought over the store's copies of Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman and sold a few of those, too. That wasn't my plan, but the books just so happened to be face out on a shelf in the line of sight behind the table they'd set up for me. You can't expect an author to disregard that.
The highlight, however, did not have to do with my own books. I was talking to 4th grade teacher whose young son rushed up holding Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex. The boy was so excited that I blurted out that I am friends with the author-illustrator and could ask if he'd send a signed bookplate. I assured Mike, and consider this notice for other author friends, that I won't make a habit of that. Probably.
I am doing a second version of my Scholastic book Vocabulary Cartoon of the Day. That was for grades 4-6; the new one will be for grades 2-3. The concept stays the same: 180 cartoons, each including a vocabulary word. To get the gag, kids have to learn the definition.
For the first book, I compiled the word list. This time, I want teachers' help—they know best.
Teachers (2nd or 3rd grade only): please suggest as many age-appropriate vocabulary words (nouns, verbs, or adjectives) as you would like. Simply e-mail them to mtn at mtncartoons.com; please do not post them in a comment here on the blog. Include your full name, grade taught, school, and town. I'd be grateful if you'd post this "call for entries" on relevant teacher message boards and forward to other teachers.
I need a final list by September 30. All teachers who contribute words that are used will be acknowledged in the book and notified.
IFWBC - PCB.
2 Comments on Todd School, Briarcliff Manor, New York, last added: 10/18/2010
I know the children really enjoyed your visit and will remember the day for a long time to come. And thanks also need to go to our library media specialist, Tara Phethean, for preparing the kids for your visit so well and to our PTA for funding our author visits.
David Wallick
4th grade teacher
Thanks David, and yes, huge thanks to Tara and the army of PTA volunteers who made the visit go so well.