Comics for ever!
Any who have read the recent memoir from seminal author Alan Garner*, indisputably an adult of the highest literary sophistication, will be aware that his childhood reading included many comics, The Knock-Out, The Hotspur, The Beano, and several others. In fact these publications constituted a major part of his favourite reading. Other important contemporary children's writers are also on record as acknowledging the important influence that comics has on their development as readers - Dave Rudden, Gareth P Jones and Dave Sheldon amongst them. There is a salutary lesson in this for many parents and teachers. Of course influential adults have a responsibility to work towards extending and broadening children's reading, by making books available, by talking about them enthusiastically, and, more than anything, by reading to them. But to scorn comics as 'not proper reading', to suppose that they are not a route that will lead into a lifetime love of books, is often a serious mistake. My mantra as a teacher was always that if we want children to read for pleasure, it is essential that we allow them to read for pleasure, that is for their own reading pleasure, wherever they find it it. Comics are reading, and since they give reading pleasure to many children, long may they continue. **
Graphic is good
The same sort of antipathy is sometimes extended to graphic novels, also too often dismissed as inferior reading and discouraged in favour of 'real books'. In this case any inclination to steer children's reading away is even more misguided; the best graphic novels provide a rich and immersive reading experience, with sustained, complex plots, well-developed characters and often sophisticated narrative structure. The emphasis on pictures only serves to stimulate and develop imagination, not negate it, and the text/image interplay can need just as much inference and deduction in its reading as many purely text fictions. For those children who take to this format (and many do) it provides a way into story that is both worthwhile in itself and develops many transferable reading skills. Fortunately there are excellent graphic novel versions of stories from many highly popular children's authors, including Rick Riordan, Eoin Colfer, Jonathan Stroud and even Philip Pullman. Parents and teachers should not underestimate the power of such publications to pull many children into independent, sustained reading for pleasure.
However at present there seem to be rather less high-quality, original graphic fantasy novels written for children (MG or 7-12, say)***. Most of the best creators of this genre seem to aim mainly for a somewhat older audience. ****
Most welcome
All of which preamble leads me to say how warmly I welcome Estranged a first graphic novel from artist Ethan M. Aldridge. It is hard to imagine anything fitting the need for original graphic MG fantasy more ideally. Rather than a cartoon-in-book-form, as are some of the offerings that do exist in this format, Estranged really is a true, high quality novel in graphic presentation. Its multitude of watercolour drawings are quite stunning, making the whole volume an aesthetically sumptuous item in its own right. However both the story and its telling are outstanding too. The basic plot of two boys, one human and one 'fae', exchanged at birth and therefore each living somewhat uncomfortably in a world not his own, is perhaps not the most completely original ever. However the rich, complex characters are skilfully presented and developed as is the intricate and highly engaging storyline. The boys' companion, Whick, a delightful 'golem' in wax candle form, is an inspired creation. Villains and monsters are suitably terrifying, too, and, as befits this genre, there is action aplenty. However, there is warmth, friendship and and reconciliation too. Although the principal protagonists are boys, room is found for a strong girl character. Worlds are beautifully created and sustained and the juxtaposition of the real and the fae is convincingly handled. For example, the sudden intrusion of a contemporary subway into the fairy kingdom is both shocking and exciting. The book's central theme of being at home and not at home in the world, of the estranged finding and becoming who they really are, is an important universal one, and its celebration of friendship and family is ultimately heartwarming.
This is a book which I am sure will excite and engage many children, and provide much reading pleasure. UK readers (and others) should certainly seek out this US publication, which hopefully will also be published here (and elsewhere) very soon.
Footnote:
For children who want better to understand some of the more distressing realities of the world in which we live, there is a quite outstanding graphic novel Illegal (see my post from November '17). There is also an excellent and very moving graphic novel of The Beadwinner, based on the original book by Deborah Ellis and the film by Nora Twomay.
Notes:
*See previous post.
**This perhaps applies even more than ever now that outstanding publications like The Phoenix Comic are available, attracting as it does some outstanding writers and artists, and promoting high quality storytelling.
***Alhough there are some excellent spin-offs from the previously mentioned Phoenix Comic.
****An absolutely outstanding example is Alexis Deacon's Geis, highly imaginative and visually stunning. This planned trilogy is up to its second book and I eagerly await its conclusion. However, it is essentially for a teenage + (YA) readership.