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Frankly, we need this book.

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Details on a new animated feature from the beloved creator of "The Snowman" and "When the Wind Blows."

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The award-winning distributor has snapped up the U.S. rights to "April and the Extraordinary World" and "Extraordinary Tales."

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I consider myself a big nerd and comics seem to go hand in hand with the social status. I never really got into comics (or graphic novels) and when I did attempt I never knew where to start. There are millions of reboots and story arcs for the thousands of different superheroes out there but which ones are good and where do I start? It was Scott Pilgrim that started my journey into graphic novels and with Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Seconds recent release, I thought now would be a perfect time to talk about the graphic novels I love.

As an easy way to distinguish between comics and graphic novels, I call single issues (30-40 pages) a comic and a graphic novel is the anthology that contains a full story arc (normally 4-5 single issues). What I find really interesting about a graphic novel is that it is simply a new way to tell a story. It is not always about the superhero, graphic novels can explore high concepts in a whole new way.

Take the only graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize, Maus by Art Spiegelman. In this story we read about Vladek Spiegelman and his wife, it is biography of living and surviving Hitler’s Europe. The graphic novel not only addresses the holocaust and life in a war torn country it does it in a unique way. Exploring the reality and fears of surviving in a visual way, the Jews are depicted as mice and the Nazi’s hunting them as cats.

There is also the autobiographic story of Marjane Satrapi  in Persepolis, a coming of age story of a girl living in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution. The whole concept of cultural change works really well in this graphical depiction. There is even an animated adaptation which is worth checking out (even if it is exactly the same). If you prefer a more quasi-autobiographical story maybe try Ghost World by Daniel Clowes or even something by Chris Ware like Jimmy Corrigan or Building Stories.

Finally, if you prefer your graphic novels to be about superheros or people coming to terms with their new found powers, I have some suggestions for you as well. Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction is the first story arc in this new Hawkeye series and explores a life of a superhero outside fighting crime and saving the world. Also by Matt Fraction, with the help of Chip Zdarsky is the weird and wonderfully dirty Sex Criminals. This is a story of a woman that discovers that time freezes after an orgasm and the shenanigans she can get up to with so much quiet time. This graphic novel will not be for everyone; if you want something very different that is full of dirty visual puns then I would recommend it.

I would love to recommend more comics but some of my suggestions are not yet released as a complete story arc yet. If you are interested in more graphic novel suggests let me know in the comments below. I hope this will give you some suggestions if you have never tried a graphic novel before. I’m also happy to take more recommendations in the comments below. Happy reading.

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As we suspected when the news broke, the removal of Persepolis from the seventh grade curriculum at a Chicago high school turned in to a minor media circus pretty quickly, with school officials saying different things all over the place. If you missed all the confusion, the Chicago Tribune
has the authoritative round up and Claire Kirch covers it for PW. Basically it emerged that the book was not being removed from school libraries or all schools, but it is being removed from the 7-10 grade curriculum where it is is currently being taught. The person who seems to have decided that is at the very top: Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennnet who wrote:

“It was brought to our attention that it contains graphic language and images that are not appropriate for general use in the seventh grade curriculum. If your seventh grade teachers have not yet taught this book, please ask them not to do so and to remove any copies of the book from their classrooms.”

Another spokesperson has more to say at PW:

Even though Persepolis currently is included on Chicago’s common core curriculum for grades 7 and 11, it will not be taught to students in grades 7-10 in the nation’s third largest school district until, CPS office of teaching and learning chief Annette Gurley told PW by phone Friday afternoon, a training guide for teachers wanting to use Persepolis in their classrooms can be drafted by the CPS curriculum department and set in place. Persepolis will continue to be taught in grades 11 and 12 and in Advanced Placement classes.

“We want to make sure that the message about inhumanity [is what] kids walk away with, not the images of someone with exposed body parts urinating on someone’s back or someone’s being tortured,” Gurley said, “We are not protesting the value of this book as a work of art. We just want to make sure that when we put this book into the hands of students, they have the background, the maturity to appreciate the book.”

Just to be clear, here is the torture scene in question:

Author Marjane Satrapi was reached for comment by the Trib, and expressed dismay:

“It’s shameful,” she said. “I cannot believe something like this can happen in the United States of America.”

Regarding the district’s concerns about the depiction of torture, Satrapi said:

“These are not photos of torture. It’s a drawing and it’s one frame. I don’t think American kids of seventh grade have not seen any signs of violence. Seventh graders have brains and they see all kinds of things on cinema and the Internet. It’s a black and white drawing and I’m not showing some

While it’s clear that the ban or removal isn’t as widespread as initially feared, it sparked a statement from the Chicago Teacher’s Union pointing out that “the only place the book is banned is Iran”, a protest and a read-in at Social Justice High School.

And this morning, students at Lane Tech High School, where the teaching ban originated, staged a sit in that was broken up by authorities after about 20 minutes.

Lane Tech students organized today’s 8 a.m. sit-in in the school’s library on Facebook and other social media platforms, however faculty broke it up about 20 minutes later, according to student reports on Twitter.

Multiple students reported on Twitter that the library was locked and up to 400 students flooded the surrounding hallways.

One student Tweeted shortly after 8 a.m., “The lack of keys at the library was pre-orchestrated librarians, teachers, staff knew well in advance what we were doing.

This story is still developing, and given the much loved nature of the book we suspect some reversals may still be coming. In the meantime, the best thought piece we’ve seen is Julian Darius on just why it may have been the images of torture that upset someone. He also points out that Persepolis was previously challenged in a Washington State school.

In 2009, parents tried to get both the book and movie banned in the Northshore school district. At issue were three specific complaints about content:

language that “would not be acceptable over the open airways via either TV or radio” and that students would be disciplined for using;
a brief sequence depicting torture in Iran, including a man urinating on a torture victim; and
the vague claim that the book is “sexually charged.”
In addition, complaints were made about parents not being notified in advance and that an alternative assignment wasn’t available. The district claimed this wasn’t true, and a curriculum review committee for the district rejected the parents’ complaints.

Also, as Darius point out, it’s also good thing superhero comics aren’t taught in 7th grade.

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Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, a stunning coming of age story considered a classic by many, has been ordered removed from Chicago’s Lane Technical High School for reasons that remain unclear.

The story broke at former teacher Fred Klonsky blog where he posted a letter circulated in the Chicago Public School system:

Yesterday afternoon, one of the Network Instructional Support Leaders stopped by my office and informed me (per a directive given during the Chief of Schools meeting on March 11) that all ISLs were directed to physically go to each school in the Network by Friday (3/15) to:

*Confirm that Persepolis is not in the library,
*Confirm that it has not been checked out by a student or teacher,
*Confirm with the school principal that it is not being used in any classrooms,
*And to collect the autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi from all classrooms and the Library.

I was not provided a reason for the collection of Persepolis. If I learn more I will inform all staff.

While there is some speculation that the removal had to do with books that were accidentally ordered, chatter in the comments indicates that this is unlikely—Persepolic is actually taught in several classes and is included in the new Common Core standards.

Books are not to be removed from school library without due process, and a comment below confirms that is not being removed from school libraries:

Dear Librarians –
We have received clarification from the Chief Education Office that the directive to remove Persepolis from schools does not apply to school libraries, and that any further challenge or attempt to remove this or any other book from a school library must be guided by the Collection Development policy which outlines the review procedure.
This clarification and a copy of the Collection Development policy has been forwarded to all school chiefs. As you know, the Collection Development policy is posted on the Department of Libraries wiki at http://cpslibraries.wikispaces.com/collectiondev
Any questions regarding copies of Persepolis that are not in the school library should be directed to your principal.

No plausible reason has been given for the removal, and in a later post a librarian suggests that the topic was being squelched:

Fred
I’m a CPS librarian very worried about the possible banning of the book Persepolis. We received the email below today, after HS librarians raised the issue days ago on our listserv. We have a CPS listserv for librarians, but a friend of mine tried to comment on this issue and was censored from discussing the issue further on this listserv.  We were also told it was Fullerton Network where the book was being removed.

-N

Amidst all the confusion and backtracking, a protest has been scheduled for 3:30 this afternoon:

A group of students, parents and teachers from Lane Technical High School are planning a protest this afternoon at the corners of Western and Addison streets. They will be protesting the action of CPS bureaucrats who have attempted to pull the acclaimed graphic novel, Persepolis, off of school book shelves.

As alluded to above, Persepolis is a modern classic, presenting a moving story of a young woman’s struggle in an oppressive society, that is taught in schools around the world. It was adapted into an Oscar nominated movie. Although the US has an embarrassing history of removing classic works from schools and libraries, and whoever decided to remove this book is pretty certain to end up on the wrong side of history.

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Although the Tiger’s Choice, the PaperTigers’ online reading group, selects books that are written for children but can be enjoyed by adults as well, National Reading Group Month has brought to mind those books written for adults that younger readers might adopt as their own favorites, and that could launch impassioned discussions between parents and children, teachers and students, or older and younger siblings.

The books on this week’s list are books recommended for teenagers, with content that may be beyond the emotional grasp of pre-adolescents. All of them are available in paperback and in libraries.

1) Ricochet River by Robin Cody (Stuck in a small Oregon town, two teenagers find their world becomes larger and more complex when they become friends with Jesse, a Native American high school sports star.)

2) The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle (Alice is twelve, growing up on a modern-day Wyoming ranch with a mother who rarely leaves her bed, a father who is haunted by the memory of Alice’s rebellious and gifted older sister who ran off with a rodeo rider, and an overly active imagination.)

3) Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod by Gary Paulsen (The author of Hatchet tells the true story of how he raced a team of huskies across more than 1000 miles of Arctic Alaska in what Alaskans call The Last Great Race.)

4) Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (This autobiography of a young girl growing up in revolutionary Iran and told in the form of a graphic novel is rich, original, and unforgettable.)

5) From the Land of Green Ghosts by Pascal Khoo Thwe (An amazing odyssey of a boy from the jungles of Burma who became a political exile and a Cambridge scholar, this Kiriyama Prize winner is a novelistic account of a life filled with adventures and extraordinary accomplishments.)

6) In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez (The Mirabal sisters were beautiful, gifted, and valiant women who were murdered by the Dominican Republic government that they were committed to overthrow. Their true story is given gripping and moving life by their compatriot, Julia Alvarez.)

As the weather becomes colder and the days grow shorter, find your favorite teenager, choose a book, and plunge into the grand adventure of reading and sharing!

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Entertainment Weekly's 100 Best Books of the Last 25 Years...

I zipped home for lunch this afternoon, and found the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly in my mailbox (a happy surprise--it usually comes on Saturday) featuring The New Classics--The 1000 Best Movies, TV Shows, Albums, Books & More of the Last 25 Years. I almost didn't make it back to the office I was having so much fun reading it. And look at Daniel Radcliffe/Harry Potter smack in the middle of the cover! I immediately turned to their book list.

Now, as EW would say:

SPOILER ALERT!!

If you want to read these yourself leave my blog right now (or at least shut your eyes and scroll way down).

Here are five books of note that made the list:

#2: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire because J.K. Rowling "went epic and evil."
#21: On Writing because Stephen King offers "some of the soundest advice to writers set to paper."
#40: His Dark Materials trilogy because Phillip Pulman offers "a grand, intellectually daring adventure through the cosmos."
#65: The Giver, by Lois Lowry because they agree with the Newbery committee (and it's a fantastic book).
#84: Holes, by Louis Sachar, because they continue to agree with the Newbery committee (and it's also a fantastic book).

Mixed in with the many fiction and nonfiction titles were several graphic novels such as Art Spiegelman's Maus, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, and Neil Gaiman's Sandman.

Fact that surprised me: The Da Vinci Code was on the New York Times Hardcover Best-Seller List longer than HP and the Goblet of Fire (166 weeks vs. 148 weeks--3 years-ish for each!)

My Saturday afternoon is officially taken--I have a date with this double issue.

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nominee questionnaire:
"I realize that the film could have become even better."
Vincent Paronnaud


oscar.com/nominees

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I was so excited when Mike R Baker told me that I'd "Made his day" via my blog. This is a great compliment as I frequent his blogs myself. He is a fantastic illustrator and always surprises me with his illustration friday contributions which are often completed in gouache at lightening speed! Mike also designed this wonderful new logo for the award which I find adorable (I couldn't resist passing it on...)

So, here I am passing the award on to five wonderful people who's blogs I check everyday (I'm not kidding, I'm rather addicted). Thank you to:

• Dani Draws (this blog is incredible. Dani is talented and has detailed tutorials... so CHECK IT OUT!)
• Amanda Woodward (A tremendous source of inspiration both from her life and her art. I consider her a good friend and am lucky to have met her - she's from my home town as well. Actually, to be perfectly honest, Amanda helped inspire me to quit my full time job to illustrate for a living and I've never looked back!)
•Chrissy Fanslau (Her perseverance and dedication is ultra inspiring!)
• The Daily Coyote (Just check it out, it's awesome!)
• CutewithChris.com (um, yeah, Cute with Chris is so darn funny)

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She drew the big head and I drew the monkey parts!

By: Holli & Walker, age 3
A Girl Who Creates

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No art today (the Woog's at Mother's Day Out) but I did want to share her space in the studio. Since this little corner of my studio has been set up, she draws or colors more than once a day now, on her own doing I might add. She just goes over when she feels like it and doodles. It's pretty funny walking in and seeing different things on the Magna-Doodle.

On another note. It is on my list to do a blog redesign and try and get more people to participate I've set up a flickr group for big and little art, so add your art there too if you have an account.


By: Holli & Walker, age 3
A Girl Who Creates

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Sketching has been so much fun. Why didn't I start this sooner? The secret for me is to let myself off the "perfection" hook. I'm using a small freebie notebook from my husband. It's not at all precious. Also, I've given myself permission to draw a French fry if I want. My hubby's at CES (Consumer Electronics Show), so I took the kids out for lunch. As usual, I finished first and had to wait for them. This time, I had my trusty sketchbook and started to draw their lunch. It was fun and they loved it. They've each started their own book. Yippee!

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One of my favorite blogs is DaniDraws. She's compiled a list of her favorite blogs. I'm really excited about quite a few blogs. It's very addicting. I enjoy seeing what others are up to. It's a wonderful thing for one with a solo career.

Here's my list:
Holli Conger, DaniDraws, Genine's Art Blog, Claudine Helmuth, Paige Keiser, Elizabeth Dulemba, Scott Franson, Paula Becker,and last but not least, Paula Pertile. I add more all the time. Check these out and enjoy!

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Holli Conger has a great contest going on right now called Junk your Pumpkin and there's another contest by Penelope Dullaghan called Monster Mash that looks so good! I only wish I had the time to work on these projects (i did have time this week as it turns out but decided to take up knitting instead... silly me!)

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The Woog and I decided to make some magnets today. She drew the picture (just scribbles) and then helped me glue them to the back of marbles. Her favorite part was playing with the marbles and then putting them all up on the fridge.

These are her's:



And here are the ones that I made.

By: Holli & Walker, age 3
a girl who creates

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Since it's Independence Day today we did more of a collage with junk rather than the things we normally do and instead of painting the Woog had the job of "sqiiiiiisshhhhh-ing" the glue and gluing on the fireworks (aka buttons). I decided to stick it in a frame and it's new home is in the kitchen. Happy 4th!

By: Holli & Walker, age 3
A Girl Who Creates

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I finally got around to putting new batteries in the Woog's camera and she started snapping everything she could.

I took 4 of her images and made a montage with a coupe of other overlay elements.


Wa-la, a fine art piece!

By: Holli & Walker, age 3
A Girl Who Creates

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A quick piece while we worked on Woogie Wednesday today. She painted a styrofoam plate while I worked on assembling the other piece and then we made "ocean animals."

By: Holli & Walker, age 3
A Girl Who Creates

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