Both Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo) and Chris Schweizer (Crogan's Vengeance) create comics based on events in history and tell the story of the time from the point of view of a unique character; Schweizer's is a young boy and Sakai's is a samurai rabbit. Both say that they don't write for a kids market; Schweizer says he writes for an adult market and Sakai says he writes for himself. Despite this, both create comics with strong youth appeal.
The panel started with Chris Schweizer explaining how comics can help build vocabulary and reading comprehension for young readers. There is something inviting about comics that make them more attractive to kids than traditional prose. Even complex comics can be more interesting for kids to read and are less difficult to comprehend than their prose cousins, despite the advanced vocabulary and plot complexities.
On the surface, comics seem more fun, but it's a strong mode of storytelling defined by forcible exercises in logical deduction. Between two comic panels, the reader must logically conclude the events that are not seen. It's a classic example of Occam's Razor: the reader assumes the least complex and most likely explanation for things not visually presented in the story.
Schweizer noted, “I don't try to age down my vocabulary or sentence structure; I'm confident that readers will be able to discern the clues from the context.” He made the point that through the juxtaposition of words and pictures, comics have the potential to make unfamiliar words accessible due to the contest in which they are read.
Classic adventure books of 19th and 20th century, which were devoured by young boys, are shockingly complex reads today. As pleasure reads, they take a lot of conscious effort. Those same stories in the form of comic adaptations can be a staple for understanding canonical literature classics.
Schweizer's own comics highlight historical facts and showcase how various time periods relate to each other. He noted that kids often look at history as having very clear specific rights and wrongs, so his goal is to show multiple sides of different historical issues.
The best part Chris's presentation was hearing him read several pages of his comic in full voice actor mode. I think he managed to create a different voice with unique accenting for about ten different pirate characters in addition to sound effects.
In the second half of the program, Stan Sakai discussed the process of bringing historic fact into the creation of unique characters.
Sakai's early interest in comics and samurai movies led to creating his comic Usagi Yojimbo. Comics gave him a love for reading and he wanted to incorporate the two into a single art form and thus became a freelance cartoonist.
Usagi's adventures take place in 17th century Japan which is a time of turmoil in Japan and a very turbulent time in history. Sakai explained that Usagi is a character run story. One strong female character in Usagi Yojimbo, a body guard to a young lord in Japan, was based on the wife of a real historical character who, while her samurai husband was dying at her side, jumped on her horse, charged forward, and cut off the opposing general's head. Another character was inspired by a character in Japanese pop culture: a blind swordsman whose amazing sense of hearing led him to be very precise with a sword. The character in the comic is a Samurai whose strength comes from his strong sense of smell.
Stan finished his discussion with a quick comic sketch of what one attendee did on the way to the MLA conference. In the span of a few minutes, Sakai created a full paneled comic page that was clever and detailed.
Chris Schweizer's next book, Crogan's March, based on the French Foreign Legion, will be out in October. Stan Sakai's full color graphic novel, Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai will be out in November.
Rebecca Krznarich, Reference and Adult Services Librarian, Whitman Public Library
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Friday, May 8, 2009
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Encounters with History: Learning and Teaching from Primary Sources
This was a program of the Boston Regional Library System. I was only able to get to the end of this presentation, so I missed the--already-blogged!--segments from:
Earle Havens, Acting Curator
Rare Books and Manuscripts, BPL
http://www.bpl.org/research/rb/collections.htm
Beth Prindle
Manager, John Adams Library Project
http://www.johnadamslibrary.org/
I came in at the end of the presentation from:
Ron Grim, Curator and Roni Pick, Director
Norman B. Leventhal Map Center
http://maps.bpl.org/
This collection has many maps with birdseye views—users can zoom in on the maps to see buildings, ships, etc.
Marta Pardee-King, Curator of Social Sciences, BPL
http://www.bpl.org/research/socsci/index.htm
Many electronic resources are available from home:
http://www.bpl.org/electronic/index.htm
Using maps with students helps illuminate the events/locations (e.g., when the outline of Boston has changed)
Often the BPL has both scanned images and transcribed text from historic documents; helpful so students can understand the text, but also can see the original.
Marta showed examples and discussed ways to use these documents with students:
:
Textbooks from an older era
Images of people, both old and recent
Examples of changing vocabulary
Political commentary (e.g. cartoons)
Minorities are also represented
For genealogists/beyond the census: Ancestry and New England Ancestors (In library only), city directories, town histories
For a list of primary documents covered by the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework, see:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/hss/final.pdf
Appendix A
An issue brought up during Q&A:
Availability of the online materials/indexes means the use of the physical materials is increasing as well, as users are more aware of what exists in these collections, raising preservation issues.
Earle Havens, Acting Curator
Rare Books and Manuscripts, BPL
http://www.bpl.org/research/rb/collections.htm
Beth Prindle
Manager, John Adams Library Project
http://www.johnadamslibrary.org/
I came in at the end of the presentation from:
Ron Grim, Curator and Roni Pick, Director
Norman B. Leventhal Map Center
http://maps.bpl.org/
This collection has many maps with birdseye views—users can zoom in on the maps to see buildings, ships, etc.
Marta Pardee-King, Curator of Social Sciences, BPL
http://www.bpl.org/research/socsci/index.htm
Many electronic resources are available from home:
http://www.bpl.org/electronic/index.htm
Using maps with students helps illuminate the events/locations (e.g., when the outline of Boston has changed)
Often the BPL has both scanned images and transcribed text from historic documents; helpful so students can understand the text, but also can see the original.
Marta showed examples and discussed ways to use these documents with students:
:
Textbooks from an older era
Images of people, both old and recent
Examples of changing vocabulary
Political commentary (e.g. cartoons)
Minorities are also represented
For genealogists/beyond the census: Ancestry and New England Ancestors (In library only), city directories, town histories
For a list of primary documents covered by the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework, see:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/hss/final.pdf
Appendix A
An issue brought up during Q&A:
Availability of the online materials/indexes means the use of the physical materials is increasing as well, as users are more aware of what exists in these collections, raising preservation issues.
BPL - Encounters with History
Wow! Ancient books that belong to you!
Earle Havens, Acting Curator at BPL talked about the greatest technology, the book, and held up some rare specimans for the audience, including a page from the first printed Bible, the originals of Shakespeare's works, and a book that saved a life in the Civil War (the gunshot hit the book in the soldier's pocket).
Adams gave his library to the country, Jefferson sold his 6,000 books for $25,000 to refurbish the Library of Congress after a fire. Beth Prindle, Manager of the John Adams Library sees this as a testament to John Adams, the farmer's kid from Braintree, as a true founder of democracy. The Adams Project shows Adams permanent record of his interaction with the book. Hundreds of these books have the mark of the owner: underlining, prices, ownership, and "interpretive commentary" Adams argued with his books. "John Adams never saw a piece of paper, he didn't feel compelled to write on it."
Beth Prindle says: BPL is about access, so they developed two websites:
On the Timeline: Personal context in a chronological order with links to his works and artifacts; His face ages asyou precede on the timeline. World history is also linked to the site to give a framework.
When you hold the book, Beth says, you have a powerful experience of holding the book that Adams held, but by putting these books online, the access and research capibilities are harnessed by the Internet. BPL is offering both experiences. Beth also spoke of exhibitions in other locations and unique things that mark early American history. and how this added curatorial content adds to the enjoyment of history and more research possibilities.
http://www.johnadamslibrary.org
Beth said passionately: If no one knows you have it, what purpose is it?
I had a chance to do a bus tour to BPL this spring so I encourage you to visit the exhibit soon, but for digital excellence also check out the website.
Earle Havens, Acting Curator at BPL talked about the greatest technology, the book, and held up some rare specimans for the audience, including a page from the first printed Bible, the originals of Shakespeare's works, and a book that saved a life in the Civil War (the gunshot hit the book in the soldier's pocket).
Adams gave his library to the country, Jefferson sold his 6,000 books for $25,000 to refurbish the Library of Congress after a fire. Beth Prindle, Manager of the John Adams Library sees this as a testament to John Adams, the farmer's kid from Braintree, as a true founder of democracy. The Adams Project shows Adams permanent record of his interaction with the book. Hundreds of these books have the mark of the owner: underlining, prices, ownership, and "interpretive commentary" Adams argued with his books. "John Adams never saw a piece of paper, he didn't feel compelled to write on it."
Beth Prindle says: BPL is about access, so they developed two websites:
On the Timeline: Personal context in a chronological order with links to his works and artifacts; His face ages asyou precede on the timeline. World history is also linked to the site to give a framework.
When you hold the book, Beth says, you have a powerful experience of holding the book that Adams held, but by putting these books online, the access and research capibilities are harnessed by the Internet. BPL is offering both experiences. Beth also spoke of exhibitions in other locations and unique things that mark early American history. and how this added curatorial content adds to the enjoyment of history and more research possibilities.
http://www.johnadamslibrary.org
Beth said passionately: If no one knows you have it, what purpose is it?
I had a chance to do a bus tour to BPL this spring so I encourage you to visit the exhibit soon, but for digital excellence also check out the website.
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