Manga - a path to literacy?

July 19, 5:01 PMPhoenix Charter Schools ExaminerYvonne Watterson

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Artwork: Sophie Jones

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A former language arts teacher, I admit to being something of a snob when it comes to what is and isn’t literature. The stack of books I take to the beach is not, while the collection of aging hard-backs in my bookcase undeniably is, its spines bearing the names of Wordsworth, Keats, Shakespeare, Yeats, Joyce, et al – for all intents and purposes, the literary canon. So it was with some cynicism that I read a recent article in the Harvard Education Letter, an award-winning newsletter for pre-K-12 teachers and administrators.

By Michael Bitz, founder of the Comic Book Project, 'Manga is my Life,' left me gobsmacked. Comic books as literature? The very thought. But these are not the comics of my youth, of the Wonder Woman or Superman variety. Not even close. These manga, Japanese comic books, with their stylized artwork, their honorifics (my 11 year old explained to me the importance of adding “-san,” “-sama,” “-dono,” suffixes that indicate relationship or social status in Japanese society.) I was every bit as impressed had she provided an explanation of the stratification of groups and individuals in Shakespeare’s Othello.

Back to Mr. Bitz ... as it turns out, his project has engaged over 50,000 kids since 2001, and they have created thousands of comics. Thousands. All the while, these young writers are improving their plot structure, word choice, and syntax, crafting whimsical stories around time-worn themes, as they develop that most difficult-to-teach of the six writing traits – ‘voice.’ Typically, they give themselves Japanese nicknames and even include Japanese words and phrases in their narratives. Really? Well, really. A quick consultation with my resident expert reveals that indeed this is the case. With a sigh and a roll of the eyes she informs me that her manga name is Sasori, and her two best friends are Rikku and Tomoko. The plot thickens. 

My daughter’s devotion to the craft is evident in the pages and pages of what I had, until now, dismissed as elaborate doodling. Perusing her most recent story – beginning on the back page – I learned a while back that the bookbinding was not flawed; translated manga actually reads backwards – I can see quite clearly how her everyday vicissitudes have been transformed into engaging manga narratives. Truly authentic writing with plot, characterization, theme and all the elements of literature that Arizona's students are expected to grasp as well as those characteristics of effective writing measured by the Six Trait Analytic Writing Rubric 

With the start of school only weeks away and Arizona teachers searching for innovative ways to include English Language Proficiency Standards, in their lessons, they might want to consider using comic books to support literacy development. I am certainly not advocating manga as a substitute for novels and textbooks, but I am suggesting that this is a genre which should not be overlooked. 

As for me, I am on something of a mission - personally and professionally - to expand an outdated definition  of literacy, and to my daughter’s delight, on the shelves of my pretentious bookcase, I plan to make a little room for manga. 

To participate in The Comic Book Project: Contact the Center for Educational Pathways at info@edpath.org.  The theme for 2009-2010 is 'Save our Planet!' - participants will create a comic book about cleaning up the environment, eliminating pollution or putting the brakes on global warming.