{"id":2706,"date":"2019-04-02T15:38:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T22:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=2706"},"modified":"2024-01-09T15:41:38","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T23:41:38","slug":"maggies-world-070-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/maggies-world-070-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggie\u2019s World 070: 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maggie\u2019s World 070: 4<\/h1>\n\n\n
Maggie Thompson<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Tsk. Not for a 4-year-old?\u00a0Bone: Out from Boneville<\/em>\u00a0\u00a9 2019 Jeff Smith. But an adventure story like this doesn\u2019t need to be restricted to \u201cYoung Adult\u201d readers. \u00a9 2019 Devon Jaruk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A friend asked me recently what comics I\u2019d recommend for her 4-year-old nephew. Thinking about the sort of comics I\u2019d loved at that age\u2014and comics that had entertained our kids 25 and 30 years later\u2014my first suggestion was Jeff Smith\u2019s Bone<\/em> saga, begun in 1991. Noting that we\u2019d be going to the library later that day, I said I\u2019d show my friend what might be on the shelves there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we entered the children\u2019s room, I repeated my recommendation of Bone<\/em>, and the librarian shook her head and \u201cTsk\u201ded. \u201cNo!\u201d she said and then librariansplained at me, \u201cThat\u2019s in the YA collection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

The first comic book I can say with certainty that I read was Dell\u2019s Four Color<\/em> #103 (Easter with Mother Goose<\/em>, April 1946). The second was Four Color<\/em> #128 (Santa Claus Funnies<\/em>, December 1946), by which time I was turning 4. The third was Dell\u2019s Raggedy Ann + Andy <\/em>#8 (January 1947). Understand that, when I say I \u201cread\u201d them, I mean that I perused them repeatedly, once Mom had read them to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was 4 when penguin Donot and I (with the help of Mom) learned that the Earth was round and that something kept us from falling off.\u00a0Raggedy Ann + Andy\u00a0<\/em>#13 (June 1947) \u00a9 2019 Oskar Lebeck. Moreover, there were more animals than funny ones in\u00a0Animal Comics<\/em>\u00a0#25 (February 1947) \u00a9 2019 Oskar Lebeck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s one of the advantages in reading comic books: Most stories contain words and pictures, and, as Harvey Pekar used to say, there\u2019s no limit to how good the words can be and no limit to how good the pictures can be. The bonus is that the pictures give clues to the words, and kids learn to read left to right, top to bottom, action following action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among my college courses were Education Department lessons in children\u2019s literature and in teaching children to read. I worked in the Oberlin Public Library\u2019s Children\u2019s Department; after graduation, I worked for the Cleveland Public Library for two and a half years as a pre-professional assistant children\u2019s librarian. (I couldn\u2019t be a professional librarian, because I didn\u2019t get a Master\u2019s Degree in Library Science.) Oh\u2014and then I read comic books to my two kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, yeah, I\u2019m not a professional librarian. But also, yeah, I do know something about children and comics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s up with YA?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYA\u201d stands for \u201cYoung Adult.\u201d When I worked at the library in Cleveland, the children\u2019s collection was sorted roughly by categories of \u201cPicture Books,\u201d \u201cKindergarten through Second Grade,\u201d and \u201cThird and Fourth Grade.\u201d The rest were just the remainder of the children\u2019s collection. At whatever was deemed the appropriate age\u201412, maybe?\u2014the patron got a card as an adult and had general access to all the books in the library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A look at Wiki these days indicates that \u201cYA\u201d books are for readers 12-18 and that the category came to full flower in the 1970s. The essay even goes on to talk about \u201cNA\u201d books for (yes) \u201cNew Adult\u201d readers, defined as people 18-30. As if \u2026 No, let\u2019s move on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Otherwise, I might end up suggesting a progression to \u201cSA\u201d for \u201cSenior Adult\u201d readers\u2014which might take some of us back to picture books again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, the proverbial \u201cAll Ages\u201d category that served so well for so long may no longer exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Except for comic books, doggone it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back at the comics available to my 4-year-old self in 1947, it seems clear that opportunities for entertainment were not limited to funny bunnies and talkative dolls. And I think that what disturbed me about the conversation at the library was the idea that Bone<\/em> should be kept strictly away from a 4-year-old kid. It seems to me that one of the guiding spirits of reading for pleasure is encouraging kids to look at all the former \u201cAll Ages\u201d comics to see what each finds of most interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Obviously, there\u2019s lots more to say about ways to introduce comics to readers, because there are a variety of uses to which comics can be put. Larry Gonick\u2019s entertainments are also textbooks.\u00a0The Cartoon History of the Universe\u00a0<\/em>#5 (\u201cBrains and Bronze\u201d) \u00a9 2019 Larry Gonick.\u00a0Understanding Comics<\/em>\u00a0writer-artist Scott McCloud addressed market forces and genres in\u00a0Reinventing Comics.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a9 2019 Scott McCloud<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Guidelines<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

That doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s not a good idea to have a framework of recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Randall W. Scott in Comics Librarianship: A Handbook <\/em>(1990) discussed the challenges in comics classifications in that era, and the situation has grown even more complex since then, with the outpouring of material released in the ensuing quarter of a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Movies are now evaluated as General, Parental Guidance Suggested, Parents Strongly Cautioned, Restricted, and Adults Only. Keeping in mind that life itself can be \u201cPG,\u201d Larry Gonick\u2019s groundbreaking Cartoon History of the Universe<\/em> was only the first of his cartoon handbooks that could simultaneously entertain and inform. His magnificent comics guides on a variety of subjects may have passages that some parents might want to save until their less mature readers are a bit older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heck, I\u2019d buy the wonderful Grammar Pack of posters by The Oatmeal (Matthew Inman) for my local school, were it not for passages that might make its teachers hesitate. \u201cIf you find yourself getting confused, try stripping down your sentence to just the essentials. I don\u2019t know or care who\/whom you punched in the butt.<\/em>\u201d And so on. (Memo to self: Maybe I should ask the teachers\u2014because the lessons are both clear and memorable.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2012, Scott Robins and Snow Wildsmith compiled A Parent\u2019s Guide to the Best Kids\u2019 Comics<\/em>\u2014and, yes, they put Bone<\/em> in \u201cGrade Level 6-8.\u201d But note their \u201cHow to Use This Book\u201d passage: \u201cThese grade levels are general guides and should not discourage readers from reading \u2018up\u2019 or reading \u2018down,\u2019 depending on their own personal reading levels, comfort levels, and\/or interests.\u201d Exactly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, Go Ahead and Share<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Adults can enjoy Andy Runton\u2019s wordless Owly<\/em> stories\u2014even while 4-year-olds can explain to them what\u2019s going on\u2014and it was one of those books that I finally handed to my friend. But, yes, adults can also read some of the \u201cYA\u201d comics to those 4-year olds, while they share the fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 1949, when I was 6, Mom wrote an essay to promote comics to her friends. She concluded by recommending Carl Barks\u2019 \u201cLost in the Andes\u201d Donald Duck story, then on sale. \u201cWe do seem to have accumulated a number of Superboy<\/em>, Wonder Woman<\/em>, and Bat Man <\/em>opera, but these do not hold the attention of our six-year-old for more than five or six readings. Even Raggedy Ann<\/em> [comics] can beat that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is to say that an excellent approach to what are now dignified with the term \u201cgraphic novels\u201d is to turn the kids loose on what\u2019s out there\u2014and see what they like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hey, Free Comic Book Day is just a month away, on May 4 this year. That would be a great day to start finding what kids might like best, if you haven\u2019t done so already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maggie\u2019s World by Maggie Thompson appears the first Tuesday of every month here on <\/em>Toucan!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Maggie Thompson<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n