Toon Books is a publisher of hardcover comic book early readers founded by Françoise Mouly. With titles by such creators as Geoffrey Hayes, Jay Lynch, Dean Haspiel, Eleanor Davis, and Mouly's collaborator and husband, Art Spiegelman, Toon Books promotes its line as "the first high-quality comics designed for children ages four and up"."About Toon Books", Toon Books website. Accessed Nov. 23, 2008.
History The concept for Toon Books came to Mouly when her son Dash was learning to read, and his first-grade teacher assigned him "easy readers".MacPherson, Karen. "Comics for New Readers", Pittsburgh Post Gazette (Scripps Howard News Service) (April 14, 2009). Appalled by the lack of appeal of the educational material, Mouly instead spent time with her child and armloads of French comic books. In fact, one of the first Toon Books releases was Agnès Rosenstiehl's Silly Lilly, a.k.a. Mimi Cracra, a comic-book character familiar to millions of French toddlers.
After proposing the Toon Books idea to major children's books publishers from 2004 to 2007, and being rejected because the proposed books didn't fit existing categories, Mouly returned to her roots as a self-publisher — she had founded her small press, RAW Books & Graphics, in 1977, and RAW Junior in 1999. As she had done for the avant-garde comics and graphics magazine RAW, or the kids comics anthology Little Lit, both of which she co-edited, or for the covers of The New Yorker, Mouly gathered an array of talent for Toon Books.
2008 saw the launch of eight titles, featuring star authors (such as Harry Bliss, Art Spiegelman or Jeff Smith), veteran children's book authors (Geoffrey Hayes) as well as novice cartoonists (Eleanor Davis, the author of Stinky, was still in art school when Mouly contacted her). The initial line of titles received glowing reviews and multiple awards, prizes, and distinctions."Toon Books Awards and Honors", Toon Books website. Accessed Mar. 13, 2014. Upon Toon Books' debut, Publishers Weekly characterized the line as having the potential to revitalize the field of comics for kids: "Françoise Mouly is at it again. After transforming American comics with the seminal 1980s comics anthology RAW, Mouly is now out to teach kids to read by using comics".Reid, Calvin. "Toon Books: Comics for Kids", Publishers Weekly (Nov. 16, 2007).
In fall 2012, Toon Books released its first Toon graphic novel, The Secret of the Stone Frog, by David Nytra. Two years later, Toon Books launched an imprint called Toon Graphics aimed at readers eight and up.
Distribution When it first launched, Toon Books was distributed by Diamond Books, a unit of Diamond Comic Distributors dedicated to getting comics and graphic novels into the book trade. In 2010, Toon Books entered into a distribution partnership with Candlewick Press.Publishers Weekly staff. "Candlewick Partners with Toon Books: New imprint launches in October", Publishers Weekly (Sep. 09, 2010). In late summer/early fall of 2014, Toon Books launched the new line TOON Graphics, an imprint for readers 8 and up. It was distributed from by Consortium, a unit of Perseus, a move that reflects Toon's true status as a small but expanding independent publisher.
TOON in the classroom Attitudes towards comics have radically changed since the 1954 Congressional hearings where they were denounced as the cause of juvenile delinquency. They are now touted by progressive librarians and educators as an effective tool for children to discover the pleasures of reading.Lyga, Allyson A. W. "Graphic Novels for (Really) Young Readers: Owly. Buzzboy. Pinky and Stinky. Who are these guys? And why aren't they ever on the shelf?", School Library Journal (March 1, 2006).Schwarz, Gretchen E. '"Graphic Novels for Multiple Literacies", Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (International Reading Association) (November 2002): "In an increasingly visual culture, literacy educators can profit from the use of graphic novels in the classroom". As Art Spiegelman said, "comics can be a gateway drug to literacy".Higgins, Tim. "The Importance of Being Art Spiegelman", The Morning Call (Nov. 17, 2010).
In the absence of any model or precedent, Mouly developed her own methodology to make sure the TOON Books would be well adapted to beginning readers' needs. She consulted with educators as she developed each individual book but also took rough drafts of the stories to schools, taking notes while watching children read.Audio interview with Mouly on WKCR-FM, archived on the Teaching Graphic Novels blog (June 12, 2009) Responding to educators' and librarians' suggestions, Mouly expanded the Toon Books line with bilingual versions (French publisher Casterman just released French-English Toon Books),Solym, Clément. "Casterman et Toon books, les BD bilingues anglais-français", Les Universe du Livre L'Actualité (07/06/2009). audio versions (which will be developed into a novel multilingual tool for ESL and/or support for reluctant readers), as well as the first nonfiction Toon Book.Nadja Spiegelman and Trade Loeffler. Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework (Toon Books, 2010) .
Toon Books have been greeted enthusiastically by librarians, teachers, and parents looking for material for early readers. Early on, the Maryland State Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Nancy Grasmick, embraced Toon Books as part of the Maryland Comic Book Initiative.Hudson, Laura. "Comics in the Classroom: Thanks to a new generation of educators, the school and library markets keep on growing", Publishers Weekly (Jan. 06, 2009). Other states' school systems are now considering Toon Books for their own Comics in the Classroom initiatives. The books are part of Renaissance Learning's Accelerated Reader Program and have been assigned Reading Recovery and Lexile levels, all of which are firsts for comics for young children.
The Toon Books website offers free online learning tools for both students and educators. Downloadable lesson plans and activity sheets provide teachers with leveled lesson plans for kindergarten through third grade. Other tools include free online readers, videos, and games.
The free "CarTOON Maker" invites readers to make their own cartoons. The online Readers Theater teaches educators how to get students to perform TOON Books. On the Toon site for kids, early readers can make paper puppets, watch videos, and learn "CarTOON" lessons from master cartoonists.
The TOON Leveling System The TOON into Reading program is divided into three levels:"Toon Books Level Correlations", Toon Books website. Accessed Mar. 13, 2014. Level 1 — first comics for brand new readers, recommended for Grades K–1. Contain 200–300 easy sight words, short sentences, usually one character, a single time frame, and 1–2 panels per page. Example: Silly Lilly and the Four SeasonsRosenstiehl, Agnès. Silly Lilly and the Four Seasons: A Toon Book (Toon Books, 2008) . Level 2 — easy-to-read comics for emerging readers, recommended for Grades 1–2. Contain 300–600 words, short sentences and repetition, a story arc with few characters, and a few panels per page. Example: Benny and Penny in Just PretendHayes, Geoffrey. Benny and Penny in Just Pretend: A Toon Book (Toon Books, 2008) . Level 3 — chapter-book comics for advanced beginners, recommended for grades 2–3. Contain 800–1000 words in long sentences, a story that takes place in a broad world with shifts in time and place, chapters, and opportunities for the reader to make connections and speculate. Example: Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework
Awards and honors In 2009, Stinky, written and illustrated by Eleanor Davis, was named a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book. The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is awarded to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most renowned book for early readers published in English in the U.S.A.Press release. "Geoffrey Hayes, wins Geisel Award for "Benny and Penny in the Big No-No!"", American Library Association website (Jan. 18, 2010).
Geoffrey Hayes' Benny and Penny: The Big No-No! won the 2010 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, while Jeff Smith's Little Mouse Gets Ready was named a 2010 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book.
Liniers' Good Night, Planet won the 2018 Eisner Award for Best Publication for Early Readers, and Ivan Brunetti's Comics: Easy as ABC won the same award in 2020. Toon Books have been nominated multiple times for that same award since the award's inception in 2012, including the years 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020.
Bibliography Benny and Penny in Just Pretend (Geoffrey Hayes), 2008 Otto's Orange Day (Frank Cammuso & Jay Lynch), 2008 Silly Lilly and the Four Seasons (Agnès Rosenstiehl), 2008 Stinky (Eleanor Davis), 2008 Mo & Jo Fighting Together Forever (Dean Haspiel & Jay Lynch), 2008 Jack and the Box (Art Spiegelman), 2008 Luke on the Loose (Harry Bliss), 2009 Benny and Penny: The Big No-No! (Geoffrey Hayes), 2009 Little Mouse Gets Ready (Jeff Smith), 2009 Benny and Penny in The Toy Breaker (Geoffrey Hayes), 2010 Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework (Nadja Spiegelman & Trade Loeffler), 2010 Silly Lilly in What Will I Be Today? (Agnès Rosenstiehl), 2011 Patrick in a Teddy Bear's Picnic and Other Stories (Geoffrey Hayes), 2011 Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking (Philippe Coudray), 2011 Nina in That Makes Me Mad! (Hilary Knight & Steven Kroll), 2011 Chick and Chickie (Claude Ponti), 2012 Zig and Wikki in The Cow (Nadja Spiegelman & Trade Loeffler), 2012 The Shark King (R. Kikuo Johnson), 2012 A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse (Frank Viva), 2012 Maya Makes a Mess (Rutu Modan), 2012 Benny and Penny in Lights Out! (Geoffrey Hayes), 2012 The Secret of the Stone Frog (David Nytra), 2012 Barry's Best Buddy (Renée French), 2013 Benjamin Bear in Bright Ideas! (Philippe Coudray), 2013 Otto's Backward Day (Frank Cammuso with Jay Lynch), 2013 The Big Wet Balloon (Liniers), 2013 Hearts (Thereza Rowe), 2014 Tippy's Night Parade (Lilli Carré), 2014 Benny and Penny in Lost and Found (Geoffrey Hayes), 2014 Flop to the Top! (Eleanor Davis and Drew Weing), 2015 We Dig Worms! (Kevin McCloskey), 2015 Written and Drawn by Henrietta (Liniers), 2015 Ape and Armadillo Take Over the World (James Sturm), 2016 Good Night, Planet (Liniers), 2017 Adele in Sand Land (Claude Ponti), 2017 (originally published in French as Adèle et la pelle in 1988) Comics: Easy as ABC (Ivan Brunetti), 2019 A Trip to the Top of the Volcano with Mouse (Frank Viva), 2019
See also
Papercutz
References
External links
Little Lit