Friday, June 27, 2008

COMICS, NOT CANDY, FOR HALLOWEEN

I know. It’s only June, but the trick-or-treat season is coming and you want to be prepared. Rather than rotting kids’ teeth and adding to the obesity epidemic, you can choose to stop the madness and increase literacy all at the same time.

You can buy 25 mini comics in a bundle for the low-low price of $3 per bundle. This year they offer five titles. From Previews:


Bone
by Jeff Smith

As Fone Bone, Gran’ma and Thorn make their journey to Atheia, they have an unexpected encounter with the two stupid Rat Creatures – and a bloody battle ensures! Things are bound to get worse as the might Kingdok arrives on the scene, ready to shred Gran’ma to bits. This is an excerpt from Bone #21, which appears in full in the color graphic novel: The Dragonslayer from Scholastic/Graphix.





Cowa!
by Akira Toriyama

From the creator of Dragonball and Dragonball Z! Paifu, a half-vampire/half-werekoala, is always getting into trouble with his best buddy, José the ghost. But when the Monster Flu sweeps through town, the fun and games are over! If the sick monsters don’t get the medicine they need in a month, everyone will die. With all the adults sick, it’s up to the boys to get the medicine and save the say! Paifu and José are off on a big adventure, but will they get the medicine in time … or will they become victims themselves?



Archie: The Mystery of the Museum Sleep-In
by George Gladir & Bob Bollng

The museum is a scream for Archie and Jughead when, inspired by a favorite film, they decide to spend a night at the museum to experience maximum spookage! And experience it they do, as statues suddenly come toward them! Are these artifacts coming to life for real, or is somebody playing the ultimate Halloween “trick” on our unsuspecting teens? The answer will leave you scared silly!




A Peanuts Halloween
by Charles Schulz

This special promotional mini-comic features close to two dozen vintage Peanuts strips from the classic late 196’s period (including five full-color Sundays!), focusing mostly on Linus Van Petl’s eternally hopeful vigil for the “Great Pumplin”, with guest appearances by Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy, and a hippie bird? This nifty little giveaway will remind trick-or-treaters (and their folks) of Fantagraphic’s award-winning Complete Peanuts series … and of greatness of Peanuts in general.




Donald Duck: Halloween Hucksters
by Marco Rota

Boo! N Marco Rota’s brand-new “Halloween Hucksters”, a spooky “scare expert” invties Donald to help him paint the town orange – and haunt the dickens out of Uncle Scrooge, Gyro Gearloose, and Daisy! But too much fright proves no delight … and what happens when Donald learns his host is a g-g-ghost?





You can purchase these by going to your local comic book store and placing an order, citing the Previews Issue: June 2008, page 21. Easy as pie. Order them now or they might not be in stock come October.

Our family did this last year and it was a hit. The kids were very excited about getting comics and so were the parents. We allowed each child to choose his or her own book (and only one book) and they seemed to delight in that. (Children having choice of reading in the classroom, true choice, is strongly supported by research.)

Mini-Comics are also a great addition to a n existing classroom library or as a first purchase for your classroom. These make great gifts for the kids in your elementary classroom, too.

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