| IVAN BRUNETTI WINS EISNER GOLD! VOTED THE 2020 BEST EARLY READER! The Eisner Awards are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, and sometimes referred to in the industry as the comic industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. VIEW A FREE DIGITAL COPY HERE Brunetti's virtual acceptance speech: (winners typically accept awards in a grand ballroom event at Comic-Con in San Diego) " Am I dreaming? (Pinches arm.) No, I guess I’m awake. I was surprised to learn that I won an Eisner Award, especially considering the other folks nominated. Incredible! I’m deeply honored to receive this recognition, and I hope my book has been—and will continue to be—a helpful guide for budding cartoonists everywhere. Inspiring others to pick up a pencil and start drawing their own comics is the truly most gratifying part of my life. My appreciation is beyond words. " — Ivan Brunetti Comics: Easy as ABC is included in all our summer reading sets—available for every age! BUY HERE! Comics: Easy as ABC The Essential Guide to Comics for Kids by Ivan Brunetti Françoise Mouly, editor Contributions by: Geoffrey Hayes Art Spiegelman Eleanor Davis Kevin McCloskey Reneé French James Sturm Roz Chast Sergio García Sánchez Lemony Snicket Chris Ware Elise Gravel Jeff Smith Liniers Neil Gaiman INTEREST LEVEL: Age 8+ READING LEVEL: Grades 3+ LEXILE LEVEL: 740L F&P: Level M HARDCOVER ISBN: 978-1-943145-44-7 SOFTCOVER ISBN: 978-1-943145-39-3 Download FREE lesson plan! "Why This Book?" by Françoise Mouly Below the complete text from the Introduction for Comics: Easy as ABC Françoise Mouly with Art Spiegelman Many any years ago, I fell in love. I fell in love with a cartoonist, and I fell in love with what he was so passionate about: comics. “Everything I know, I learned from comics,” said art spiegelman. (This was Spiegelman all in lowercase, before he went on to be a famous cartoonist, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Maus: A Survivor’s Tale – although as another cartoonist, Dan Clowes, pointed out, “Being a famous cartoonist is like being a famous badminton player.”) But I digress. “Everything I know, I learned from comics: economics from Uncle Scrooge ... philosophy from Peanuts ... and feminism from Little Lulu. Ethics, aesthetics, and everything else from MAD Magazine.” And so it was for me. I have spent a lifetime editing and publishing cartoonists. (Besides TOON Books, which I founded ten years ago, I’ve been the art editor of The New Yorker for more than twenty-five years.) And how do you edit cartoons and comics? If nothing else, this book will show you how much thought and skill go into effective visual communication. You’ll get an inkling of the discussions I’ve had over the years about whether this character should face left or right, or about how to find just the right facial expression or the right color to support the overall idea. In advocating for comics for kids, in speaking with teachers, librarians, and parents, I’ve realized how little common vocabulary we have to understand and appreciate what goes into minting comics. Part of the attraction of the medium, especially for kids, is how fluidly comics are read. They are multisensory: when a story is well told, the reader is deeply engaged, mind, body and soul, in the magical world penned by the cartoonist. Yet even if Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, or Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes, are literally “easy to read,” their power comes from the fact that the artists have distilled universal truths into clear, specific, and often deeply funny short stories–not easy to do day after day. As James Sturm (a cartoonist who also founded and runs a comics school) has said, comics are not just words and pictures–they are more akin to poetry and graphic design. So if this book makes you fall in love with comics as I did, head over heels, as both a reader and a fan, it will have accomplished its purpose. Beyond that, if it encourages more budding cartoonists and opens a path to the future for them, I’ll be delighted. I’ll leave the last word to Liniers, one of the very few cartoonists who, these days, still manages the astonishing feat of producing a new strip, Macanudo, every single day: “Oh, Ivan Brunetti, where was this book when I was a kid and wanted to become a cartoonist!?” Liniers asked us. “You lucky, lucky 21st-century kids!” Congrats to all of TOON's Eisner Award winners! Can you believe we have now garnered 14 NOMINATIONS + 3 WINS! Frank Viva's A Trip to the Top of the World with Mouse was added to this noteworthy award-winning list this year. If you voted, thank you for voting! And thanks to all our friends for helping to spread the joy of comics to a new generation of readers. |
IVAN BRUNETTI WINS EISNER GOLD! |
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VOTED THE 2020
BEST EARLY READER! |
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The Eisner Awards are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, and sometimes referred to in the industry as the comic industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. |
|
Brunetti's virtual acceptance speech: |
|
(winners typically accept awards in a grand ballroom event at Comic-Con in San Diego)
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|
"Am I dreaming? (Pinches arm.) No, I guess I’m awake. I was surprised to learn that I won an Eisner Award, especially considering the other folks nominated. Incredible! I’m deeply honored to receive this recognition, and I hope my book has been—and will continue to be—a helpful guide for budding cartoonists everywhere. Inspiring others to pick up a pencil and start drawing their own comics is the truly most gratifying part of my life. My appreciation is beyond words." — Ivan Brunetti |
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Comics: Easy as ABC
The Essential Guide to
Comics for Kids by Ivan Brunetti
Françoise Mouly, editor Contributions by:
Geoffrey Hayes
Art Spiegelman
Eleanor Davis
Kevin McCloskey
Reneé French
James Sturm
Roz Chast
Sergio García Sánchez
Lemony Snicket
Chris Ware
Elise Gravel
Jeff Smith
Liniers
Neil Gaiman |
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| Download FREE lesson plan! |
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"Why This Book?"
by Françoise Mouly |
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 Françoise Mouly with Art Spiegelman |
Many any years ago, I fell in love. I fell in love with a cartoonist, and I fell in love with what he was so passionate about: comics. “Everything I know, I learned from comics,” said art spiegelman. (This was Spiegelman all in lowercase, before he went on to be a famous cartoonist, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Maus: A Survivor’s Tale – although as another cartoonist, Dan Clowes, pointed out, “Being a famous cartoonist is like being a famous badminton player.”) But I digress. “Everything I know, I learned from comics: economics from Uncle Scrooge ... philosophy from Peanuts ... and feminism from Little Lulu. Ethics, aesthetics, and everything else from MAD Magazine.” And so it was for me. |
|
I have spent a lifetime editing and publishing cartoonists. (Besides TOON Books, which I founded ten years ago, I’ve been the art editor of The New Yorker for more than twenty-five years.) And how do you edit cartoons and comics? If nothing else, this book will show you how much thought and skill go into effective visual communication. You’ll get an inkling of the discussions I’ve had over the years about whether this character should face left or right, or about how to find just the right facial expression or the right color to support the overall idea. In advocating for comics for kids, in speaking with teachers, librarians, and parents, I’ve realized how little common vocabulary we have to understand and appreciate what goes into minting comics. |
|
| Part of the attraction of the medium, especially for kids, is how fluidly comics are read. They are multisensory: when a story is well told, the reader is deeply engaged, mind, body and soul, in the magical world penned by the cartoonist. Yet even if Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, or Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes, are literally “easy to read,” their power comes from the fact that the artists have distilled universal truths into clear, specific, and often deeply funny short stories–not easy to do day after day. As James Sturm (a cartoonist who also founded and runs a comics school) has said, comics are not just words and pictures–they are more akin to poetry and graphic design. So if this book makes you fall in love with comics as I did, head over heels, as both a reader and a fan, it will have accomplished its purpose. Beyond that, if it encourages more budding cartoonists and opens a path to the future for them, I’ll be delighted. I’ll leave the last word to Liniers, one of the very few cartoonists who, these days, still manages the astonishing feat of producing a new strip, Macanudo, every single day: “Oh, Ivan Brunetti, where was this book when I was a kid and wanted to become a cartoonist!?” Liniers asked us. “You lucky, lucky 21st-century kids!” |
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|
Congrats to all of TOON's
Eisner Award winners!
Can you believe we have now garnered
14 NOMINATIONS + 3 WINS!
|
|
If you voted, thank you for voting!
And thanks to all our friends for helping to spread the joy of comics
to a new generation of readers. |
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