With this post, I am officially breaking the first rule of book club… but I can’t help myself! Our employee reading club discussed Zane and the Hurricane: A Story of Katrina yesterday, by Rodman Philbrick, and ‘a good time was had by all’. This is 50% because the book is such a good read and 50% because we played with markers, crayons, and gluesticks. Technically, the book factory party theme option on the website for the Scholastic Store says “ages 5 and up”, so this activity is totally appropriate for adults. Thank you Michael, for allowing each of us to access our inner child and spend time in the loft!
There is research that supports reading aloud to teenagers, and I've done this in the middle and high school classroom, so (going out on a limb with my colleagues) I read chapter two to them, and yes – I did voices. Midway through the meeting, we did our craft activity, and drew the scene from the book that most resonated with each of us, so I finally have some stick figure art to share with all of you:
I picked this early scene, where Bandy causes their rowboat to capsize, putting all of the main characters in the water, because the actions of the dog really push the plot forward throughout this middle grade novel. My artwork is rudimentary, but you don’t need to be the best at drawing to create sequential art that tells a story, and all of the drawings that were shared were awesome and deepened our conversation. Check out this article in American Libraries by my graphic novels/sequential art instructor from library school, Professor Jesse Karp, about using sequential art as a learning tool: “The Case for Graphic Novels in Education”, and if you are looking for a survival story about a mixed-race boy and his dog, inspired by actual events – try out Zane and the Hurricane!
