Kids' Comics in the Times Book Review

A review of Shaun Tan's The Arrival headlines The New York Times Book Review's special focus on children's books this week. Gene Yang, author of the National Book Award-nominated graphic novel American Born Chinese, reviews the book for the Times and notes:

Some of the most accomplished graphic novels in existence are never identified as such. Maurice Sendak’s “In the Night Kitchen” comes to mind, as does Peggy Rathmann’s “Good Night, Gorilla” and David Wiesner’s recent Caldecott winner “Flotsam.” Sendak, Rathmann and Wiesner are best known as children’s book illustrators, but these particular works are pure comics in the way they construct their narratives.

The issue also includes a review of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and with comic strip illustrations by Ellen Forney.

How Children Interpret Comics

Neil Cohn summarizes a 1986 study by Michael J. Pallenik which examines the ways that children interpret a particular comics story at different ages. Titled "A Gunman in Town! Children Interpret a Comic," the paper reports the results of showing the same comics story to children of varying race, class, age and gender and soliciting responses on a panel-by-panel basis. The study originally ran in Studies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication. The comics story in question is from a 1955 issue of Western Outlaws.

Bow-Wow On Display

An exhibit currently on display at the Society of Illustrators shows original artwork from this year's Children's Book Illustration Award winners, including Gold Medal winner Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug by Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash. The exhibit runs through November 21.