1. What does this text seem to want its readers to talk about?

This text, Counting by 7’s, seems to want its readers to talk about a few things. For one, there is the odd child out, the kid who doesn’t fit in. There is also the troubled child and school counselors, which is a big topic in the book itself and leads to a lot of the events.  There is the idea of death, death of parents and how to cope and deal with that. The topics of foster care and adoption. There is a lot that goes on in this book that I personally could talk about, so that is what I feel those could be some things the text wanted the readers to talk about.

2. What connections did you make when reading this text (connections to your own life and experiences, connections to other texts like books, films, etc., connections to your knowledge of the world). How did making those connections help you better understand the book and what it seems to be saying?

There was a certain part in the book I really connected with. I lost my dad when I was a litter younger than Willow. I remember feeling some of the ways she expressed and thinking similarly actually. I wouldn’t speak. I could really relate to her, not with losing both parents, but with how she dealt with it emotionally. One thing she said in particular that really broke my heart because I felt just like this…

“I somehow make it through the first month.

I dress and brush my teeth when they tell me to.

And I experience the hollow feeling of complete loss which is emptiness.

Meaning has been drained form my life.

I force myself to think of anything but the one thing that I’m actually always thinking about.

And that is so exhausting that I sleep more than I ever have.

I am a shadow.

I no longer dream in color.

I don’t count by 7s.

Because in this new world I don’t count” (Sloan 176-177).

I know you have these questions to guide our writing as you said above but I don’t necessarily feel inspired by a few of them so I’m just going to write.

I’ll be honest; I haven’t finished the entire book yet. I have been working on it slowly. Recently I got to where I had about 50 pages left and had to go to work shortly so I skipped to the end and read the last chapter or two. I do intend to finish it. I feel really attached to the main character Willow and am very intrigued by her. I also am wondering what will end of becoming of the school counselor Dell Duke . I think that this book could serve a lot of purposes and I think it would be really appropriate to a high school or middle school student who might relate to some of the things. In the book she talks about a part where Willow goes to the library and can’t find anything for teens on death of a parent, or both. She makes a note to the library to contact publishers to take care of that. I feel that in a way this book could be her doing just that; writing a book to help kids who have lost loved ones cope, relate, or understand. I think that could be a bug purpose of this book; to help. I also think it is a good conversation starter, and can get people to think differently and open up about things and topics that I mentioned above.

1.  Talk about the overall claims of these two scholars (Versaci and McCloud). What arguments are they making about comics and their uses? Use examples from their texts to support your summary.

          Versaci’s article is overall claiming that comic books are a great tool to use in the classroom to teach students about “literature” and help them to see and define for themselves what it is. He argues that comics help to define “literary merit”. He also stresses at the end that comics, “When masterfully created, they reveal our lives to us, and in so doing they help us to gain some insight into the world around us in surprising ways” (Versaci 67).

          This is similar to the claim of McCloud in his TED talk. He speaks about how comics help you to see the world from a different “window”, saying that comic books are that window. He says they help you to triangulate the world and see its shape. He also talks about how comics are important artistically. That is something that Versaci also mentions. They both also mention comic books in relation to real life and history. Versaci does so to show how they can be useful in an educational setting. He stresses how they are a tool often overlooked. On the other hand, McCloud does so to show that comics have been around for an extremely long time, and are somewhat natural to humans. For example, when he shows the petroglyphs on the walls or the other “backwards” pamphlets. He also shows how they have developed and when they eventually got word bubbles and such.

                  Overall, both scholars are making claims for the positive and useful side of comic books today. They are trying to break some of the negative stereotypes and educate people on how they can be very useful and important.

2.  How did reading your text from the genre series compare to other reading we’ve done to date? How did it change how you read? How can you imagine using drama, comics or graphic novels in the classroom?

                  The reading of my genre series book, Anya’s Ghost was a lot different from my other experiences in this class. It was a fairly quick read because it was a lot of imagery and pictures. I read it in two sittings. It was hard for me to get the hang of reading a comic book or graphic novel at first because the order sometimes confused me. I would catch myself looking at the other page to continue (McCloud’s idea of a continuum would have come in handy here). I think it was merely because I wasn’t used to the format and am already an easily distracted person. That was a challenge for me. After I got the hang of it went pretty smoothly. I also liked how the characters and story was not only written out for you but shown. You didn’t have to imagine or make up your own characters because they were given. It was like a movie book to me.

            I think it changed how I read in the fact that I now understand how to read graphic novels. I am already a pretty visual person while I read, meaning I come up with what is going on in the book in my head, so having it there was nice.

            I could definitely use comics or graphic novels in the classroom. I think some students would find a lot of interest in them. I think I could incorporate Versaci’s idea of having history or education comics or GN to help better interest the students in reading and learning. For a lot of students, pictures or narratives really help to set in ideas. I could definitely use them as a resource in my classroom.