Saturday, October 9, 2010

Not for children, but worth seeing

Graphic novels have become an integral part of children's library collections in recent years--and in bookstores they are almost pushing the more conventional books off the shelves. Now that this format has become more respectable, it's time for librarians to take a respectful look at their antecedents and the perfect opportunity has come up with the publication of Lynd Ward's graphic novels from the 1930s and 1940s. The American Library has produced a lovely boxed two-volume set of Ward's novels reviewed in Sunday's N.Y. Times Book Review. It's difficult to find a link between the comic books so many writers and artists read in their youth and the dark, often grim woodcuts Ward uses in his book. Perhaps the secret is that Ward was not allowed to see comics when he was a child. Instead, he apparently learned from earlier artists and developed an unusual style of telling complex, psychological stories without using words. These books are definitely not for children, but librarians and teachers will enjoy studying the similarities and differences between these books and more recent graphic novels such as Spiegelman's Maus. Some parents and teachers, not to mention grandparents, still resist allowing children to enjoy the strongly illustrated graphic novels, so having some background in the long history of using pictures to tell stories is helpful for a librarian. After an hour spent poring over these wordless novels, a reader will come away with a new respect for the subtle art of telling stories without words. It helps us to understand why children are content to spend enless time studying illustrations in picture books and graphic novels. Reading pictures is an art, just as compelling as reading words. The more we know about both types of art the more we will understand how all types of materials serve the needs of children and help them grow into perceptive adults.

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