Children’s Book Week Spotlight: Resources for Parents

Raising a ReaderIn addition to our daily posts recommending kids’ comics by age group to celebrate Children’s Book Week, don’t forget our helpful resources for parents of budding comic fans!

With more than 80,000 copies in print, Raising a Reader! How Comics & Graphic Novels Can Help Your Kids Love To Read! answers the questions parents and educators bring to using comics: What skills do graphic novels offer kids? How do you teach reading with a comics page? How do comics promote a love of reading? It’s an indispensable tool for showcasing the value of graphic novels, and chock full of reading suggestions and title recommendations to get kids engaged with this exciting medium!

This resource is written by Dr. Meryl Jaffe, with an introduction by three-time Newbery Award honoree Jennifer L. Holm (Babymouse, Squish) and art by Eisner Award winner Raina Telgemeier (Smile, Drama) and Eisner Award nominee Matthew Holm (Babymouse, Squish). Graphic design was handled by Brooklyn-based designer David Herman.

Raising a Reader! How Comics & Graphic Novels Can Help Your Kids Love To Read! is available in bundles from CBLDF here. You can view the digital version below!

CBLDFPM-CVRManga is a worldwide phenomenon: One of the most widely read types of literature in its home country of Japan, it has crossed the world to become a very popular category here in the United States.

Often, manga is challenged because of its foreign source — many of the people who want manga banned simply don’t understand it. CBLDF works to educate people about manga, and part of that effort is CBLDF Presents Manga: Introduction, Challenges, and Best Practices,an authoritative yet accessible handbook designed to help librarians, educators, and parents navigate the vast and popular field of manga.

Made possible with a grant from the Gaiman Foundation and published by Dark Horse, CBLDF PresentsManga is a handbook designed to provide a concise and informed overview of manga — its history, genres, and issues. This educational work delves into the history of manga, its major demographic divisions, its most significant creators, and the challenges it has sometimes faced in North America. An expert panel of writers, including not only scholars of the medium but veterans of the manga industry itself — professionals who have worked from both the North American and Japanese sides of manga in publishing, editing, review, and library services. Edited by Melinda Beasi of Manga Bookshelf, CBLDF Presents Manga is written by Manga Bookshelf columnist Sean Gaffney, Ed Chavez of Vertical, Erica Friedman of Yuricon and ALC Publishing, Shaenon Garrity of Viz Media and Otaku USA,and Robin Brenner and Katherine Dacey of School Library Journal.

If your child is interested in manga and you want to learn more about the category, you can pick up a copy of CBLDF Presents Manga here!

Children’s Book Week (May 4 – 10, 2015), the annual celebration of books for young people and the joy of reading, was established in 1919 and is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Every year commemorative events are held nationwide at schools, libraries, bookstores, homes, and now comic book stores! On May 2, Free Comic Book Day led off the celebration of Children’s Book Week at more than 2,000 comic book specialty stores, which will be giving away millions of free kids comics! To learn more about Children’s Book Week, and how you can join the fun, please visit www.bookweekonline.com. Check out official events from coast to coast at www.bookweekonline.com/official. For a list of comic book shops participating in Children’s Book Week events, visit CBLDF’s website here. To learn more about Free Comic Book Day, please visit www.freecomicbookday.com.

Celebrate the freedom to read comics for all ages and CBLDF’s important First Amendment work by visiting the Rewards Zone, making a donation, or becoming a member of CBLDF!