Our next Summer Reading List is courtesy of Jenn Stewart, who happens to be the owner of my own local comics shop, The Dragon, located in downtown Guelph, Ontario (soon to move up the street). Please send us your list.
Jenn Stewart’s Summer Reading Survey
Jenn Stewart, owner of The Dragon, and Latin and Drama teacher at The Linden School.
I am totally hyping the Joe Shuster Comic Book Creator Awards, specifically the Comics for Kids award. The Dragon is the sponsor of the award and I had the opportunity to be on the nominating committee. I’m really excited to see who the jury chooses to win the award! But really, all the books we chose are deserving of attention. They are the kind of books I would give to a student and know they would enjoy them and get something out of them.
Books
I’m really excited about the release of Wet Moon vol.5 by Ross Campbell, and You Have Killed Me by Jamie S. Rich and Joelle Jones this summer. All of these creators are, in my opinion, deserving of more attention: Ross for his realistic portrayal of teenage culture, Jamie for his unique way with words, and Joelle for her amazing art. The best comic I’ve read so far this summer has been Young Liars vol.2. I’m a big fan of David Lapham and I honestly think this is some of his strongest work. I have never experienced more surprising twists in a work that is clearly not just about the twists!
In the non-comic sphere:
Ancient Inventions by Peter James and Nick Thorpe. It’s a great overview of the incredible innovations made by various ancient cultures, with lots of diagrams. Their goal is to counteract temporocentrism: the belief that our own time is most important and represents a “pinnacle” of achievement. It’s great, because I’m learning a lot that I can take back to my students in September.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I love Jane Austen and this was too interesting a concept to miss. I just finished it and I have to say that it just made me want to read the original. While the zombie elements were entertaining and fit in seamlessly for the most part, there were a few changes that really stood out as jarring and obvious, which lessened my enjoyment of the text.
Emotion, Restraint, and Community in Ancient Rome by Robert A. Kaster. This will be my next read and I’m looking forward to it, because it details certain Roman character ideals like verecundia and pudor, which you can’t really translate with just one word; they’re extremely subtle and complex ideas.
Other than that I’m reading a lot of Greek and Roman mythological texts as part of some research I’m doing.
My next project is a paper for the Ontario Classical Association meeting in October, entitled “The Role of Mythology in the Rise of the Superhero”. I will, of course, publish the paper on my store website after the event. My upcoming event? Getting married.