Resources

Teen Read Week: A Manual for Participation

The manual, written and compiled by Amy Alessio and Kevin Scanlon for the Young Adult Library Services Association, includes an examination of why teens may not gravitate towards reading, ways to integrate the Web into strategies that encourage teens to read and write, read-alouds for teens that will inspire them to go to the shelves, program ideas from across the country from both school library media centers and public libraries, and tip sheets and a timeline to make planning for Teen Read Week easier than ever. The manual is 47 pages and three hole punched.

To order the Teen Read Week Manual for Participation (ISBN 0-8389-8207-7) by phone, please call 1-866-SHOP ALA (1-866-746-7252), fax 1-770-442-9742, or write ALA Order Fulfillment, P.O. Box 932501, Atlanta, GA 31193-2501. Be sure to include title and ISBN number. The price for ALA members is $16 and the price for non-ALA members is $18.

Print Publications

• Bruggeman, Lora. “Zap! Whoosh! Kerplow! Build High-Quality Graphic Novel Collections with Impact.” School Library Journal (Jan. 1997): 22–27.
  This article includes Seven Steps to a Super Collection. It is a good place to start research about collection development.
  
• Goldsmith, Francisca. “Comic Books and Graphic Novels.” The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature (New York: Continuum, 2001), 189–191.
  The structure of graphic novel literature, its history in several cultures, and its changing audience composition are all addressed.
  
• Smylie, John. “Comics.” Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, vol. 1 (New York: Oxford Univ. Pr., 1998), 405–409.
  Discusses the development and evolution of printed sequential art across the past century. The different audiences addressed by the medium in different cultures, as well as the development of critical attention in the past quarter century receive analysis here. A small bibliography appended to the main article offers guidance to further research on comics as art and literature.
  
• Trelease, Jim. The Read-Aloud Handbook, 5th ed. (New York: Penguin, 2001).
  Trelease explains why comics are invaluable to young readers.
  
• Versaci, Rocco. “How Comic Books Can Change the Way Our Students See Literature: One Teacher’s Perspective.” English Journal (Nov. 2001): 61–67.
  Versaci contends that, “Aside from engagement, comic books also help to develop much needed analytical and critical thinking skills.” The “Resources Cited” section could lead to other reasons for librarians and teachers to use comics if they need to defend their use to principals, directors, or patrons.
  
• Weiner, Stephen. “Beyond Superheroes: Comics Get Serious.” Library Journal (Feb. 1, 2002): 55–58
  A good overview of comics/graphic novels from a collection development point of view.
  
• Wiener, Robert G. “Graphics Novels in Libraries.” Texas Library Journal (winter 2001): 130–35.
  Graphic/comic novels are defined as “having boxed pictures with text that jointly tell a graphic story.”
  

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Web Sites

• Have you wondered what the comics industry is saying about Teen Read Week? Here's a well-written piece presented in Pulse, an online industry newsletter.
  
• The Librarian’s Guide to Anime and Manga by Gilles Poitras is a resource created to help librarians understand these forms of entertainment and to aid in the selection of items for their collections.
  
• “The Comics Get Serious,” reviews graphics novels and has kid-friendly lists.
  
• “Comic and Graphic Novel Resources” is a short list of a variety of online sources of information.
  
• “Recommended Graphic Novels for Public Libraries,” provides good coverage of graphics novels and comics in general. The lists are divided into such categories as superheroes, science fiction and fantasy, comedy, and Japanese manga. There is also an opening collection section and links to other comics and graphic novel sites.
  
• “Comic Books for Young Adults: A Guide for Librarians,” by Michael R. Lavin, includes an excellent section in defense of the use of comics to improve reading skills. There is a section called “Comic Books and Reading,” and another called “Visual Literacy.” The site also has lists of comic book publishers and recommended comics.
  
• “Working the Web: Graphic Novels,” an article from The Guardian explains that now that comics have come of age, they are also moving online.
  
• Novels and Comic Trade Paperbacks: An up-to-date collection of annotated titles.
  
• Berkeley (Calif.) Public Library Teens Services provides this up-to-date annotated list of graphic novels.
  

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Graphic Novels

The following list was selected by YALSA’s 2002 Popular Paperbacks Committee

Graphic Novels: Superheroes and Beyond

• Bendis, Brian-Michael:Ultimate Spider-Man Power and Responsibility
• Brennan, Michael: Electric Girl
• Busiek, Kurt: Kurt Busiek’s Astro City Life in the Big City
• Clowes, Daniel: Ghost World
• Dixon, Chuck and Jordan Gorfinkel: Birds of Prey
• Fujishima, Kosuke: Oh My Goddess! 1-555-GODDESS
• Gaiman, Neil: Death The High Cost of Living
• Groening, Matt: Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror Spine-Tingling Spooktacular
• Hosler, Jay: Clan Apis
• Kudo, Kazuya: Mai the Psychic Girl
• Loeb, Jeph: Batman: the Long Halloween
• Medley, Linda: Castle Waiting Lucky Road
• Millar, Mark: Ultimate X-Men The Tomorrow People
• Miyazaki, Hayao: Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind Perfect Collection Vol. 1
• Moore, Alan: Promethea Book One
• Moore, Terry: Strangers in Paradise High School!
• Nishiyama, Yuriko: Harlem Beat No. 1
• Petrie, Doug: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Ring of Fire
• Sakai, Stan: Usagi Yojimbo Grasscutter
• Smith, Jeff: Bone Out from Boneville
• Smith, Kevin: Daredevil Visionaries Kevin Smith
• Takahashi, Rumiko: Ranma 1/2 Volume 1
• Watson, Andi: Geisha
• Winick, Judd: Pedro & Me Friendship, Loss & What I Learned
• Winick, Judd: The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius
  

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Internet Career Connections

• www.artschools.com
  provides information on art schools and programs and links to programs, materials, lists, interviews, and guidance in a wide range of careers—architecture to art therapy, financial aid to testing
  
• www.swgc.mun.ca/visual/vcareers.html
  several pages of career titles in the arts
  
• www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Forum/7913/page42.html
  links to career descriptions in visual arts; directories, art tutorials, copyright resources, dictionaries, and glossaries
  
• www.simmons.edu/resources/libraries/crl/graphicsart.html
  Simmons College Libraries Career Resources Library, graphic arts—Web and book resources
  
• www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Forum/7913/page27.html
  links to career descriptions in printing and graphic and related arts
  
• http://teched.vt.edu/gcc
  Graphic COMM Central—links to articles and books, tutorials, e-commerce companies, trade publications, virtual tours, high school through college programs, Web development tools, etc.
  
• http://www.gain.org/servlet/gateway/employment/careers.html
  printing and graphic arts careers; focuses on Michigan, with links to additional information
  
• www.digitalcareerpath.org
  a career exploration game from the printing and imaging industry
  
• www.utexas.edu/cofa/career/inlinks/internet1.html
  links for art and art history majors
  
• www.utexas.edu/student/careercenter/links/finearts.html
  links for the fine arts

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Comic Awards

• http://members.tripod.com/harveyawards
  This is a Web site with information on the Harvey Awards, an award honoring excellence in the comics industry since 1988.
  
• www.comic-con.org/pages/2002Eisners.html
  This site offers information on the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, which are given to the best comics industry publications and creators each year. View the different categories the award has as well as past winners.
  
• www.enteract.com/~aardy/comics/awards
  This site provides lists of all the major comics-related awards as well as most of the other comics awards and many foreign awards.