About this project

WHO WE ARE

Reading With Pictures is a newly-formed nonprofit that - with your help - is going to utterly revolutionize the role of comics in education. We're going to work with academics to cultivate groundbreaking research into the proper role of comics in education. We're going to collaborate with cartoonists to produce exceptional graphic novel content for scholastic use. Most importantly, we're going to partner with educators to develop a system of best practices for integrating comics into their curriculum.

We at Reading with Pictures believe that comics belong in the classroom. We believe that comics have the potential to be more engaging, more efficient and more effective than traditional classroom materials. We believe this because we've seen it in our own lives. Comics made us better students, better citizens and better people. We hope you'll help us bring comics to students everywhere, so that comics can change their lives the same way they changed ours.

WHAT YOU GET

The Reading With Pictures Anthology Vol. 1
Cover Artist: Jill Thompson (Yes, THAT Jill Thompson)
Contributors: Over 50 of the best all-ages cartoonists working today.
Page Count: 192 pages of awesomeness
Color: Roy G. Biv is in the house!
Age Range: For the young and the young at heart (7 and up).
Cover Price: $17.99 (softcover), $24.99 (hardcover)
Release Date: August 18, 2010

The Reading With Pictures Anthology is our proof of concept - a book designed to demonstrate the power comics have in bridging the gap between entertainment and education. All 192 of the anthology's full-color pages are appropriate and accessible to the youngest of readers, yet still enjoyable and engaging for the oldest of them as well. The anthology features a cover by Jill Thompson (The Sandman) and stories by Fred Van Lente (Amazing Spider-Man), Ryan Dunlavey (Action Philosophers), Jeffrey Brown (Sulk), Raina Telgemeier (The Baby-Sitter's Club), Jim Gownley (Amelia Rules), Chris Giarrusso (Mini-Marvels), John Gallagher and Rich Faber (Buzzboy), Eric Wight (Frankie Pickle), Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes (Unshelved), Scott Sava (Dreamland Chronicles), the Fillbach Brothers (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), John Bivens (Comic Book Tattoo), Russell Lissau (Shrek), Erica Currey (Finding Nemo) and RWP Executive Director Josh Elder (Mail Order Ninja). All told, over 50 volunteer cartoonists - from acclaimed industry veterans to up-and-coming talent - have donated their time and considerable skills to create all-new stories that prove comics belong in the classroom.

You can order (at a substantial discount) the anthology in hardcover, softcover or in the high-end digital format of your choice. We'll even sign it for you. Schools and libraries can buy in bulk and save up to 50 percent off the cover price.

NOTE: Kickstarter does not allow multiple pledges from the same buyer, so if you want to purchase multiple copies of any item (say 2 softcovers and a harcover), just make a donation that covers the sum of the individual costs of all the items. When prompted, choose to not receive a reward then contact us directly through Kickstarter to let us know exactly what products you would like in exchange for your pledge.

Also, we can't alter the Honor Roll reward text at this point, but anyone qualifying for either of those rewards will also receive an RWP logo T-shirt along with the signed and numbered limited edition print from Jill Thompson.

One last thing: Reading With Pictures has filed an application for 501(c)(3) charity status with the IRS. That means that when (and if) we're approved, all pledges above $20 become tax deductible in accordance with state and federal law. We will let you know when (and if) you can deduct your pledge.

Be sure to check this page often, as it will be regularly updated with behind-the-scenes peeks into the making of the book. There will be interviews, postings of original artwork, story previews, video updates and much more.

HOW YOUR MONEY WILL BE SPENT

Your contributions will pay to print the RWP Anthology itself and provide the majority of our funding at this critical startup phase. The proceeds will go to fund the following programs and initiatives:

--Partnering with Northwestern University and other academic institutions to oversee the largest and most comprehensive research study in US history on the role of comics in education.
--Building a searchable, interactive database of research papers, lesson plans and comic-centric curriculum.
--Providing educational consultation services to schools and publishers.
--Working with cartoonists to produce top-quality educational comics.
--Helping universities design courses in the burgeoning field of Comics Studies.
--Creating a Speaker's Bureau to get cartoonists into schools and libraries.
--Aggregating graphic novel reviews from various accredited sources and generating recommended reading lists for every age and subject matter.

WHY YOU SHOULD PLEDGE ON KICKSTARTER

--We make more selling the anthology on Kickstarter than through any other venue. Therefore the more pledges we receive on Kickstarter, the more money we can put into accomplishing our goals rather than paying overhead. And that would be :)
--We are printing a very limited number of copies of the anthology beyond what we sell on Kickstarter, so purchasing through Kickstarter is the only way to guarantee that you get a copy.
--The anthology will never be available for this low a price ever again. There will never be a better time to buy, and never a time where each dollar will count more for Reading With Pictures.

FOR NON-US BACKERS

Canadian backers please add the following shipping surcharge:

$15-$20 pledges = Add $5 shipping
$50-$75 pledge = Add $20 shipping
$325 pledge = Add $100 for shipping
$1500 pledge = Not available outside the US

All other international pledges, please contact us before pledging so we can calculate the additional shipping charges.

AND ONE LAST THING

Thank you!

Project location: Chicago, IL

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Project By

Josh Elder

Chicago, IL

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Josh Elder is an award-winning cartoonist, a nationally recognized advocate for the use of comics in the classroom and the founder of the educational nonprofit Reading With Pictures.

As a comics scribe, Josh has contributed to the superheroic sagas of Batman and Superman and the sci-fi phenomenon StarCraft. He is nonetheless best known for co-creating (along with artist Erich Owen) the nationally syndicated comic strip and certified awesome graphic novel series Mail Order Ninja. The series was named one of the 25 Best Graphic Novel Series for Children by School Library Journal and the comic strip was syndicated in over 40 newspapers nationwide including The Boston Globe, The LA Times and The Denver Post.

However these days, Josh spends far more time in the classroom than at the keyboard. In order to promote the use of comics in education, Josh gives cartooning workshops to thousands of students each year at schools, libraries and literary festivals across the country. He has done workshop events with the Chicago Public School System, the New York Public Library, Northwestern University and the Novello Festival of Reading among many others. Josh has also provided professional development services for or on behalf of numerous clients including the Illinois State Library, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and DePaul University. He has also given conference presentations on the role of comics in education to organizations such as the International Reading Association, the San Diego Comic Con, TEDx, and the American Library Association.

A graduate of Northwestern University and a National Merit Scholar who took college courses while still in middle school, Josh has always credited comics for his academic successes. He taught himself to read at age four by using comics, and they have been his scholastic “secret weapons” ever since. Now he wants to share that secret with students in every city, every school and every classroom.

In 2009, Josh joined with a group of likeminded individuals to found Reading With Pictures. Josh is honored and privileged to serve as the organization’s Executive Director and President, guiding Reading With Pictures’ efforts to get comics into schools and get schools into comics by developing educational resources, cultivating academic research and publishing high-quality curriculum materials.

Josh makes his home in the small, Midwestern town of Chicago, Illinois.

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