Deidra Herring, The Ohio State University and Sharon Kerestes, Cedarville University, CMCIG Co-Chairs

On April 20, the CMCIG Spring Workshop,
“Novel-Ties: Classics and Comics in the Classroom” was hosted at the Thompson Library at The Ohio State University, Main Campus. Twenty were in attendance including the presenters. PowerPoints are available upon request (herring.44@osu.edu).

Stephanie Bange, Director of Educational Resources Center, Wright State University, presented a session on “An Insider’s Look at
the Newbury Medal Process”. She walked
attendees through the rigorous and detailed
process required for selecting the John
Newbury Award winners. Her audience was enlightened by the amount of dedication it takes to contribute to this prestigious award. Along with “Stephanie’s Top Dozen Picture Books from 2014,” she provided every attendee with a complimentary DVD and book of their choice. For More information see the ASCLA website.

During lunch, roundtable discussions continued based on several topics of interest on instruction, technology, marketing, collection development, and organization and use of space.

Anita Gonzalez, English Language Arts Specialist, Ohio Resource Center, The Ohio State University, presented “It’s More Than Just a Comic…Using Graphic Novels to Engage Readers of all Levels”. She explained that “graphic novels provide a new way to help students learn…graphic novels do not fit into a genre.” A wide variety of suggested titles were shared along with her experiences as a teacher and researcher.

Caitlin McGurk, Curator, BICLM, The Ohio State University, presented on “The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum: Exploring Teaching and Learning with Comics in the Classroom”. She provided the audience with an amazing history and purpose of the
institutional collections and many useful references including “Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art” by Scott McCloud, and Will Eisner’s “Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative”. At the end of the sessions, Caitlin offered a tour of the museum and archives.

Congratulations to Desiree Fuerst, The Ohio State University, Newark Campus! She was selected to co-chair the CMCIG with Deidra Herring in 2015-16.