People in Comics Outreach: Tracy Edmunds
2008-02-20 09:46:53
Tracy Edmunds co-writes a column called All Ages Reads for Newsarama, the comics news site. Aside from the general coolness of advocating the importance of quality all-ages comics on a major comics site, Tracy’s column also stands out because her co-writers are actual kids: her daughters Shelby, age 12, and Sarah, age 9. All Ages Reads is soon to return to Newsarama after a recent break.
In addition to her columnist gig, Tracy is also a reading intervention teacher working with students in grades 3-5 and an educational author and curriculum developer. Says Tracy: “My favorite comics at the moment are Glister by Andi Watson, Fables and Jack of Fables, and Rex Libris. I collect art and toys featuring cephalopods and cute monsters.”
Tracy answered my List of Revealing Questions about accessibility in the world of comics.
Where is your favorite place to get comics?
Comics Toons and Toys in Tustin – a small but awesome comic shop!
What do you like about your favorite place to get comics?
They have everything, and I mean EVERYTHING crammed into that shop. The people are really nice and we chat a lot. I always find something new and spend way too much money. I really look forward to driving down there once a week.
How do you decide what comics to read?
Every Tuesday I read the new comics list and make a shopping list to take with me to the shop. I read several internet comic sites and blogs regularly, so I’m pretty aware of what’s coming way ahead of time. I buy things that I think the girls will like, as well as stuff my husband and I like. If I see something new I’ll flip through it and decide if I have extra cash to drop that week.
What (if anything) do you do to get comics to people who will enjoy them?
I donate graphic novels to the school library all the time. They’ve built quite a nice little collection off of me! I also have a pile of them in my classroom – I teach struggling readers in grades 3 – 5 and they really love comics because the text is supported so much by the art. I also tend to give them as gifts – there’s a graphic novel out there for everyone.
What do you think the comics industry should do so that more readers are aware of comics that might interest them?
As much as I love my comic shop, there’s a limited audience there and they’re already buying comics. More comics and graphic novels in bookstores is a good start – I think they need to be shelved not only in the graphic novel section but also on the “regular” shelves. If a reader is browsing the biology section and looking for books about bees, they should come across Clan Apis, which is a fantastic book about bees.
As far as getting the works out to kids, I think Scholastic Book Fairs and Book Clubs are a great way to reach a really large number of kids, as well as building graphic novel collections in school and public libraries. Parents and teachers need to see that graphic novels are “real books.”
If you’d like to read more of Tracy’s writing, you can find previous All Ages Reads columns archived at http://allagesreads.blogspot.com/ along with semi-regular news about all-ages comics and graphic novels. Says Tracy, “I also try desperately to keep up my Big All-Ages List [http://comicsintheclassroom.net/oo1all_ages_list.htm] at Comics in the Classroom.
“I think it’s an exciting time to be involved with the comic art form, especially for young people. There’s so much great work coming out that we can hardly keep up with it all!”
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About this blog: A guide to Marvel’s comic offerings for librarians, parents and teachers.
About the author: Nicole Boose is an Associate Editor at Marvel Comics, working on various titles including the Marvel Illustrated classics. She oversees the comics in Marvel’s custom publishing program.
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