December 29, 2016
My name is Stacey Gibson. I’m a parent, educator, and Evanston resident who enjoys a well-crafted story and the sun.
1) John Crow’s Devil by Marlon James (2005)
James peppers the pages with anvil heavy Jamaican patois, mystical practices of redemption, and sweeping battles where good and evil masquerade with and as the other. Continue reading “Stacey Gibson’s Best Reads of 2016”
December 12, 2016
My name is Jay Robinson. I am an industrial designer for Robinson Design – my own consultancy firm that creates interiors for private aircraft. Five years ago I moved with my family from Andersonville to Evanston, and I couldn’t be happier to be part of this amazing community. In my spare time I enjoy reading, cooking, listening to podcasts, and obsessing over home improvement projects.
1) Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (2015)
This is a sprawling, old-school hard-science-fiction novel packed to the gunwales with ideas. Set before and after a freak event creates a cataclysm on Earth, it subjects its characters to a gantlet of perils which they must overcome with wit, determination, and limited resources. A good one for fans of The Martian.
November 29, 2011
There’s a persistent stereotype that comics and graphic novels are written only by and about young, usually white men. Yet as the marvelous blog Madame Noire reminds us, “Black Women Love Comics Too!” Any doubters should take a peek at the Ormes Society website. Named for Jackie Ormes, the first African American female cartoonist, the Society promotes the inclusion of black women as creators
and characters in the comics industry.
Ormes is getting more attention lately herself, with a new biography highlighting her pioneering work as an editorial cartoonist, commercial artist, and civil rights activist. Her beloved character Torchy Brown, who debuted as a Harlem teenager in 1937, embodied the struggles and accomplishments of the Great Migration, while the wise cracking Patty Jo and Ginger commented slyly on the racial struggles of the Cold War era. A fascinating, and little known slice of American cultural history. –Lesley W.
June 11, 2011
Our latest Book Trailer of the Week is for Dash Shaw’s darkly fantastical graphic novel BodyWorld. The year is 2060 and America is reeling from a devastating civil war when Professor Paulie Panther rambles into the small town of Boney Borough. An experimental botanist by trade, he soon stumbles upon a mysterious two-lobed plant of possible alien origin growing back behind the high school. The strange flora’s telepathic powers are unwelcomed by the humorously quirky townsfolk, however, and the eccentric Panther quickly finds himself chafing against Boney Borough’s rigid conformist attitude. Funny and fearless, BodyWorld is a mind-blowing blend of sci-fi, offbeat romance, and futuristic what-if that will challenge your imagination with its visionary artwork. Don’t miss it.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W9xtzY5Lmw]September 25, 2010
Last year, two Evanston Township High School faculty members (English department, librarian and media specialist Nancy Figel, and literacy coordinator Regina Armour) led a pilot project which found that graphic novels are “effective pre-reading and review aids.” Now they are introducing this new curriculum into “reading intervention” classes at ETHS, to “raise reading levels among struggling readers and to engage students in reading dense classics.” Graphic novel adaptations of The Odyssey, Macbeth, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, will be read in conjunction with the traditional texts. To learn more about this exciting and innovative initiative, click here.
May 18, 2010
My mother, a dedicated 5th grade teacher, deplored comic books and refused to allow them in her classroom. “All kids do is look at the pictures; they don’t learn to read that way”.
Dear old Mom. She was right about some things, (yellow is not my color) but dead wrong about comics…or graphic novels as we call them now. Not only do kids read them, they read them in Japanese.
Yup, American teens in places like Queens New York are so inspired by Japanese manga that they’re studying Japanese, giving themselves Japanese names and even choosing colleges based on their Asian studies programs. Read about it in this New York Times story.
Lesley W.
