Teaching with comics

I hate to even post this as I always post everything I do for free. I don’t want to put a paywall between this work and teachers who are already underpaid. Resources - like buying books, paying for my website, blog, etc. - gets expensive when funds are tight. If you use my resources and would like to send a little support, I’d appreciate it. If you can’t, I understand and I’ll keep on posting anyway! Thank you to everyone for all of your support over the years!

Love! This story is just so full of powerful representation, but that’s not the point. Yes, the main character is Black, but she’s not fighting against systematic racism, not having to fight against police profiling - she is herself. I am loving how smart and inquisitive she is - just like Moon Girl in so many ways. Don’t get me wrong - there are plenty of powerful and VITAL books about issues of racism, but it is also great to see a Black character, and LGBTQIA+ as well, not always having to be a victim, just being a great character. We need to allow our students to see themselves in our literature in as many different roles as possible. Snap and her friend question who they are, but they have accepting parents and much is accomplished by “simply” being true to oneself and for parents having the courage to open the lines of communication. The moral of the story is really one of not being too quick to judge someone, in this case an elderly community member being accused of being a witch by the kids…. There is just the right amount of imagination, science, nature, and love in this wonderful adventure. As we read about gay and transgender characters, they are “just” characters in a story, a story that is inclusive and that can include anyone. This is not a book for boys or girls, for straight or queer, this is a story for us all. What Leyh is doing is normalizing who were are as humans, no matter our identity or circumstance. When we read stories like these, we open the lines of communication and we need to do this as early as possible. A combination of witchcraft and LGBTQIA+ means this books will wind up on a banned books list, as all great books do! I could easily see this book being read by 4th-8th graders, but I will also be sharing with my high schoolers. The illustrations were vibrant and full of life - often making me laugh and truly feeling the emotions of the characters.

Oh wow! The illustrations alone in this book are plenty reason to buy it and fall in love. Wide ranging vistas, wordless panels pondering deep and meaningful thoughts…. This book really made me think about The Dark Crystal and The Never Ending Story, and so many other immersive imaginative tales. There were times in this book when I laughed out loud - especially at the antics of Bea’s cat! The story is full of action, but also moments of peace and reflection - I loved the pace of the book as a whole. But, as a person with anxiety, and with children and students who have anxiety as well - this is where I really fell in love with this story. The main character, Bea, is not a perfectly brave hero - something written about too much. No, she is an ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances who finds a way. The illustrated depictions of her anxiety are just so spot on and really made me just stop and look at them again and again. (This reminds me of one of my favorite heroes - the Green Lantern known as Jessica Cruz who also fights against anxiety in her attempts to power her ring and to fight against evil). I also appreciate how she is adopted and that will help normalize different family types of young readers. An additional aspect that resonated was that she is just trying to help her Gramps, who can be forgetful. We are also dealing with a similar issue in our family and so this will again help younger readers to identify and deal with complicated worries and feelings. I really love this book and cannot wait to read the second one!

A HUGE thank you to Chris Schweizer who was super kind enough to pop in to my daughter's virtual class to discuss his awesome new graphic novel about Roanoke. He discussed both history and writing/drawing as a process and that it's ok to make mistakes. It's good to start small and to have others look over and edit your work - that publishing doesn't just happen as it flows from a perfect person in a perfect way. This is what our young people need to hear most, that making mistakes is part of the process. When asked how to become a published author, Chris told the students to read and read a lot. Read everything that you like and read everything on what you are interested in. Reading makes us better writers - YES! The kids were absolutely enthralled and captivated as he showed them the process of making comics and shared how much he RESEARCHES to make his books. As a history teacher, I was impressed by how he came to write his book as the publisher approached him on making a comic about Roanoke - a topic he initially did not know much about. However, he delved deep into the research and put out a book that can be used as the centerpiece of any social studies course around historiography, research, and treating history as the nuanced mystery it is! The entire class was able to read the comic and I personally highly recommend it for the reasons mentioned here, but also for the care that was taken to present the Native American point of view and for having them be a key part of the history. In this age of virtual education and as my family has to be strictly quarantined due to heath risks, I am so personally grateful as a father that Chris took so much time to humanize comics, writing, and research to these kids. I am sure that his visit will have long lasting impacts, as I know it has on my daughter who wants to be an author.

I LOVE The Creeps series from Chris Schweizer! Such an intelligent and fun way to teach us about important social, historical, and emotional topics vital to middle graders (and all ages). These stories are always part Scooby-Doo mystery/riddle and monster chasing, yet always with a moral that leaves us deeply contemplating our daily life. Schweizer does not talk down to the Middle Grade reader as his books are full of high level vocabulary, meaningful representation, moral dilemmas, and aspects of STEAM - with the all important aspect of grossness. I had to laugh as this book could only have been written by someone who has been a teacher - every type of student and teacher is represented in this story and I just kept nodding my head! I love that the groups of heroes, called The Creeps, are social outcasts that save us even when we do not deserve it. In this mystery, I kept finding myself flipping back and forth in the story for visual and textual evidence to help so the mystery and this is the true power of comics! I am a huge fan of Frankenstein and I loved this literary allusion of the Frankenfrogs.

Absolutely loving The Creeps series from Chris Schweizer! Once again, Schweizer writes an engaging, fun, exciting, action-packed story with a social angle - exactly as a former 6th grade teacher would do! There are so many topics in this particular caper as the socially ostracized Creeps group, full of purposeful representation, sets out to save the rest of us, even if we can’t acknowledge their efforts. These stories are always part Scooby-Doo mystery/riddle and monster chasing, yet always with a moral that leaves us deeply contemplating our daily life. In this story, the perils of media literacy and online trolls are taught to the reader in a non-preachy and honestly FUN way. This book could open so many VITAL conversations in the classroom about a topic that can often be overlooked or lost in the capital H History classes. We learn about civic engagement, importance of freedom of the press (BUT, in our modern social media era, who exactly qualifies as the press?), cyberbullying, social acceptance, navigating the pre-teen years, not jumping to conclusions, social media footprint, expectation of privacy, the impact social media has on in-person relationships, media literacy/relying on just one news outlet, and more. Schweizer does not talk down to the Middle Grade reader as his books are full of high level vocabulary (even getting into historical roots/origins of words,) STEAM (including the dangers of ozone depletion), and history. Imagine horrific events in history, all caused by unseen trolls as they use our stress to fatten us up for good eating! Only by really paying attention to how we are being manipulated and seeing the truth, can we actually see the trolls. Are your eyes REALLY open? Can you see them?

New favorite Halloween story! Love this series! Scooby-Doo like mysteries, purposeful representation, moral lesson, and being careful not to judge - with just the right amount of gore and grossness! Teaches the importance of textual and visual evidence too!