Cool things in the Blogosphere

It sneaks up on you sometimes, a sudden anxiety. In such a large place, you can at times feel like a microbe journeying across the universe. Where to go? What to see? Who to read?
Well, that's how I feel about the world wide web in all its enigmatic, amorphous beauty. There is too much to imbibe and learn, so where to start? Children's literature is exceedingly beloved by so many, and as a result I have stumbled on numerous not-so-noteworthy blogs. By that I simply mean I am looking for something new, but, just like the mass of pop music and blockbuster movies, I only find more of the same.
But here are some worthy reads, from the newly formed to the established:

1. Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast (7-imp): One of the very best children's literature blogs focused on illustrations. I know you all know about this one already, but it just had to be shared. Her interviews and reflections on the artistry of children's books are impossibly fun to read.

2. Swampish: University of Florida's new blog for the Center for Children's Literature and Culture.
 From their site: "The blog features reviews of children’s materials as well as examinations of children’s culture on a global, national, and local scale.  Speaking of local, Swampish is very fond of our home here in Gainesville, Florida, and will be sure to highlight the many people, places, and things that make our community so rich in children’s culture."

3. Medicine and Health in Children's and YA Lit: A rather self-explanatory title, but this doctor-turned-writer offers some useful and insightful examinations and thoughts into the role, influence, presence, or lack thereof, of health and medical issues in children's lit. 

4. Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind: Okay, so I just found this one, but I'm all about discovering literatures from across the globe (specifically non-Western ones) so this looks very promising. I particularly love the inclusion of all of Asia, South to East, and just clicking through the tags I've already learned about some beautiful books from the Philippines and a deliciously rich picture book from Malaysia.

5. First Second Books (Publishers blog): Graphic Novels for all readers!  After reading American Born Chinese, I came across this blog from the folks that published it. A graphic novel novice myself, it's fun to see what goes on in that genre. I have since found a bunch of resources, but I like the appeal of this blog (touted to all!).

6.  I.N.K.--Interesting Nonfiction for Kids: Because Non-Fic matters too! And it does. These guys have been around for a while, and have compiled a list of some very extraordinary books. Plus, they take on the Common Core Standards head-on, offering a lot of really helpful guidance.

Childlit GSA Forum: Graphic Novels and the Comic-verse

Upcoming ChildLit GSA Forum

When: Friday, November 15 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Where: Living Room Cafe @ 5900 El Cajon Blvd 

Topic of the Night: "Graphic Novels and the Comic-verse"

The next GSA Discussion Forum is set to explore the expansive universe of comics and graphic novels, from the classic superheroes to infamous stuffed tigers, and every single character in between.

The GSA Forums are a chance to engage with like-minded folks on all realms and levels of Children's Lit. Comics make up a huge repository of adventures for many a childhood, teenhood, and young (and old) adulthood, so it's about time we brushed up on our heroes and villains, anime and Peanuts, and all the fabulous graphic novels that don't get enough love (and the few that do). Bring some brilliant things to share about the ever-evolving stories of Batman, Spiderman, X-men, and such. Or think about the influence and presence of works like Persepolis and A Game for Swallows. One of the newest Marvel characters was just revealed, a Muslim-American teenage girl--what are your thoughts on that? Discuss the changing dynamics of San Diego's Comic-Con and the rise of Comic Cons internationally. It's quite amazing how pervasive comics and graphic novels are, especially when we stop to think one of the most beloved child characters is Calvin... and Hobbes.

In fact, bring some of your favorite or most interesting books/novels to share with others, and expose those of us a bit less than well-versed in the realm of comics. Or just come and hang out, play a pub(lication) quiz, win a silly prize, and feel like the sovereign of the evening. The forum is meant to be a welcoming and casual gathering.

Forums are open to all folks interested. That means faculty, grad students, undergrads, and you! So whether you have tons to discuss or you just feel like listening in, please drop by! It also provides an excellent opportunity to meet like-minded peers and scholars of the field.

We'll be holding the event at The Living Room Cafe from 7 pm to about 9 pm, so stop by any time and stay for as long as you like.

Looking forward to meeting up, hanging out, and diving into a comic book with you.

For more information about the ChildLit GSA, please visit us at:

The GSA Website: http://sdchildlitgsa.wordpress.com/

Our Facebook Page

On Twitter: @SDSUChildLitGSA

Comics Overload with Comic Fest and Comic Day

The first weekend of October is all about superheroes, villains, and the graphic wonder of comic books. First, the Second Annual San Diego Comic Fest starts today and runs all weekend long (Oct 4-6). I talked about it last year, as an endeavor to reconnect with the folks who created what has now become the SD Comic Con (though this event is not affiliated with Comic Con). For a more "friendly, intimate" experience, you really should consider checking this out. I was happy to see that among the artists to participate in Artist Alley is Eric Shanower, who Dr. Griswold mentioned in his interview with The Unjournal this summer.

Secondly, evidently the first Saturday of October has been dubbed "24-Hour Comics Day", wherein people around the world accept the challenge to create a full 24-page comic in 24 consecutive hours. First dreamed up by Scott McCloud, this event has spawned into a global phenomenon. The very idea of it astounds me. In fact, those who in some way succeed in these timed challenges to create work, such as NaNoWriMo, humble me in their confident and determined purpose; I simply cannot find the time to write a novel in a month, or even conceive a full comic in a day. It's the process that must be so invigorating, and I'm sure allows people to then reflect on what they've created to see if it can be developed beyond that time. Anyway, it's cool stuff, so I'm sharing.

CFP, Edited Collection: Comics and the Canon

Deadline: April 30, 2014

Website: http://partialanswers.huji.ac.il/Call_for_Papers.asp

Over the last three decades, comics, graphic memoirs, and graphic novels have emerged as literary, artistic, and cultural artifacts of central importance. Comics were once seen as outside what we might broadly call a literary and fine-arts “canon”: as objects belonging to low culture rather than high culture, as ephemeral items rather than artworks of lasting and iconic significance, as lesser hybrids of word and image rather than as belonging to a specific demanding medium. And yet the last thirty years have seen the rise and impact of works that are serious, ambitious, and monumental — works in conversation with an established literary and artistic canon, and works which themselves make a claim to cultural centrality and significance. “Comics studies” has developed as an academic discipline; artists and critics have worked to recover the rich and understudied history of the medium, with the result that a “canon” of central figures is emerging.

What is gained and what is lost when we try to establish a Comics canon? How do artists make claims to cultural centrality by putting their work in conversation with more traditional canonical works, and how do they challenge the “canon” through exploring alternative aesthetic values and subjects? In the canon-building process of winnowing and centralization, which works are elevated and which are excluded? Is there something perverse in canonizing works in a medium that has often characterized itself as marginal? What tensions are thereby exposed, not just in comics but also in the very process of canonization?

This collection invites essays on all aspects of comics and canonization, including:

• analyses of comics which rewrite or otherwise engage with canonical works of art, film and literature 
• studies that consider comics in relation to other artistic media in which word and image are traditionally combined (illustrated novels, illuminated manuscripts, film scripts and storyboards, etc.)
• defenses and critiques of the artists whose works have become most central to the comics canon (Spiegelman, Satrapi, Bechdel)
• arguments for the inclusion of understudied artists, artworks and movements in the comics canon, essays on the ways in which comics challenge the premises and processes of literary canonization
• projections on the future of the “canon” in comics classes and scholarship

Submissions (between 5,000 and 10,000 words, the Harvard system of references) are due by April 30, 2014. Authors of the papers that are accepted will be responsible for obtaining permissions to reprint illustrations.

    

The journal will accept electronic submissions, in Word or RTF, to be sent to partans@mail.huji.ac.il . For inquiries please contact the guest editor, Professor Ariela Freedman (Concordia University, Montreal) at ariela.freedman@concordia.ca

Links to Ponder (Thursday Edition)

Before the end of the week arrives, take a moment to peruse the following articles and issues that have cropped up lately. The topics presented here either raise or challenge questions that I feel are constantly prevalent in the discussion of children and "their" literature.

1. A recent NY Times  article titled The Stories That Bind Us discusses impact that family narratives have on children's development. "The more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem and the more successfully they believed their families functioned."  Simply by the act of storytelling. The article describes in brief the research efforts of psychologists from Emory University in assessing this hypothesis. It could have continued into a larger analysis on the implications of sharing family history, traditions, positive moments--particularly, the history and importance of oral narratives at all. Storytelling, especially for young people, takes on a deeper purpose and suddenly does not seem so "childish".

2. You may have heard or read about the ongoing battle over Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis in the Chicago Public School system. Originally it had been announced that the graphic novel would be removed from classrooms and school libraries, but that decision has since been altered and with the Chicago Board of Education's approval, it will remain in libraries but not be taught in 7th to 10th classes for now, only accessible to 11-th and 12th graders. Evidently officials fear presenting children with images and stories that include torture and violence, despite the growing relevance of those acts in our culture today. Is it inappropriate? Do we consider children incapable of handling these issues? And don't they realize that if you ban something as substantial as this, you will inspire protests and increase sales of the book in question--evidently one would be hard-pressed to find Persepolis in Chicago bookstores right now.

3. A little bit of interesting to wrap things up: Century of the Child: Growing by Design (1900-2000) Maria Popova highlights and describes the companion book to a the New York MOMA exhibit: "Through 100 years of toys, playgrounds, classrooms, clothing, furniture, posters, animation, books, and other ephemera, it covers such expansive and interrelated subjects as genetic engineering, the role of play in cultivating creativity, the importance of children in expanding 20th-century economies, the rise of comic strips, and the cultural significance of nostalgia."

CFP: Comics, Picturebooks and Childhood

Call for Papers: Special issue Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics (http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rcom20/current)

Special Issue Editors: Dr. Mel Gibson (University of Northumbria), Dr. Kay Sambell (University of Northumbria), Dr. Golnar Nabizadeh (The University of Western Australia).

This special edition will explore links between graphic novels and comics in relation to childhood. Both have been studied in relation to how they work (key examples being Maria Nikoljeva and Carole Scott's How Picturebooks Work and Thierry Groensteen's The System of Comics). The history, specific creators, culture and audiences for these media have also been areas of research. Focusing on the links across illustration, graphic narratives and visual culture, this special issue will offer critical examinations of the field of comics and picturebooks.

Comics and picturebooks are not typically considered together, although some research has done so, including Mel Gibson's article "Graphic Novels, Comics and Picturebooks" in the Routledge Companion to Children's Literature and David Lewis's "Oops!: Colin McNaughton and 'Knowingness'" in Children’s Literature in Education.

In relation to audience, comics and picturebooks have frequently been associated with younger readers, despite the two being very flexible media which can be used to address readers of all ages on any topic. When such assumptions are dominant, this is usually related to perceptions of what might be ‘appropriate’ content.

Sometimes controversy is about an entire medium, as John A. Lent outlines in "Comics Controversies and Codes: Reverberations in Asia." This chapter, in the book Pulp Demons: International Dimensions of the Postwar Anti-Comics Campaign, examined how manga comics were seen as having an impact upon the health and morals of young people in South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan between the 1940s and the 1980s.

Equally, controversy might focus on a single text, as was the case in relation to the British publication of Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin by Suzanne Bösche (originally published in Denmark as Mette bor hos Morten og Erik), one of the first picturebooks focusing on homosexuality and family structure. This single text was a key element in Britain in the introduction of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which forbade the "promotion" of homosexuality by local government.

In both of these cases, what may be seen to underpin controversy relating to these media are social constructions of childhood, a concept developed within Childhood Studies and perhaps best illustrated by Allison James and Alan Prout in the book Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood.

This issue also constitutes an attempt to extend the scope of scholarship on the comic and the picturebook beyond US/UK and European critical frameworks by highlighting Asian and Australian visual cultures and contexts.

Suggested topics for proposals include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Creators who work with both these media, such as Raymond Briggs and Shaun Tan.

- Picturebook creators who are influenced by comics. For example, the ways in which the work of Maurice Sendak is influenced by that of Winsor McCay.

- Comics for children and constructions of childhood

- Controversies around comics, picturebooks, childhood and child readers

- Defining the borders and emerging areas in comic book scholarship

- Manga, comics and picturebooks

- Comic book conventions and avant-garde innovations

- Divergences and intersections between comic books and picturebooks

- When and how does a comic book creator become perceived as a picture book creator?

- In what ways do constructions of childhood as innocent and vulnerable impact what is considered suitable content in a comic or picture book?

Deadline for proposals for 5000-7000 word articles is March 31, 2013 (for issue 5:1, June/July 2014 of the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rcom20/current). Send proposals to Dr. Mel Gibson at mel.gibson@northumbria.ac.uk.

Comic Book News of Note

Some noteworthy YA and children's lit happenings in the realm of comic books can be found on Comic Book Resources. Of particular interest to me (and hopefully you!) are:

1.  News that Penguin Group will be launching a new wave of graphic novels aimed at young readers.
2. Sean Kleefeld examines children's comics and graphic novels and their existence outside of the direct market.
3. The second Mumbai Film and Comics Convention is this weekend which promises to be bigger and better than the first one.

 On that note, just a friendly reminder that today marks the beginning of San Diego Comic Fest (held throughout the weekend). The SDSU Library and a number of students will certainly be there as they are involved in a documentary project about the history of the original Comic-Con.

A Wrinkle in Time in Graphic Novel Form

Madeline L'Engle's iconic children's book A Wrinkle In Time has been given the graphic novel treatment, and this new version -- which remains true to L'Engle's vision -- has been getting thoughtful coverage on the interwebs.

Publishers Weekly has an interview with editor Margaret Ferguson and illustrator Hope Larson on their website; Boing Boing discusses why this book is so well-suited to a graphic reboot; and the LA Times interviews Hope Larson.

All three sites offer sneak peeks into the newly illustrated world of L'Engle's classic.