Manga making way into the classrooms?

by Zirgo
Aug 16, 2007 3:47 AM | 24 Comments

As part of the growing interest in manga, noticed by librarians and school educators, a Korean publisher YoungJin has launched a series of educational manga targeted for kids at ages 9-12. The imprint is called Y.Kids and currently consists of some classic literature like Treasure Island and Little Women. In January 2008 a manga version of Gulliver’s Travels is planned to be released as well.
Also Y.Kids has released a series called Great Figures in History which presents famous persons in manga style. Featured so far are Einstein, Gandhi and Marie Curie. Later planned releases in the series are Nelson Mandela, Leonardo da Vinci and Mother Teresa.

20 of 24 Comments Recent Comments

lmao! I would totally read them XD
I agree with the history manga's they might help children understand better. But thats not a good idea for the clasical litereature books x_x

Aug 23, 2007 9:19 PM by magentaanbu

I think the historical figure comics are not as bad as the comics based on books. I seriously LOVE History, but text books end up being really dull to read half the time, and no one ever really reads them. If they can learn history from a comic, then imo it's a good thing (ish).
However, ruining literature because children are too lazy to read is stupid. The entire reason for teaching about the book is gone.. It's just a mere chopped up pathetic story with crappy art.

It really is sad how kids are horrible at reading these days.. *sigh*

Aug 22, 2007 1:45 PM by SY_IS_DEAD_IRL

There need to be better books for kids to read at school anyway. I learned early thanks to my mum reading to me and teaching me herself, and by the time I started at school I was way ahead of most people in reading. However I still had to read the same books and follow the same reading schemes as everyone else; man those books sucked. Right from the really simple ones up to the novels we had to pick from in the last year of junior school (age 10-11) it was a real chore, there were only one or two that made the slightest good impression. If I'd not been reading the books I liked as well, there's no way the crap they forced on me would ever have persuaded me of the joys of reading.

If they can get kids into reading through manga, I say good luck, but I think they'll need something a bit better than those.

Aug 19, 2007 2:15 AM by YourMessageHere

gothicpsyche said:
The art for Little Women is horrible. >_<

Tell me about it @_@

They need to get the girl who does Emma to do Little Women; omfg, I would be all over that.

Aug 17, 2007 6:31 AM by accela

Krelian said:
It's not sad that they're making educational manga so much as it's sad that it's the only way they can possibly get kids to read. Not only in terms of developing language skills either - when I was a kid, reading books with my mom was usually the highlight of my day (Lord of the Rings was always a favorite). I get a lot of enjoyment out of a good book, and it's kinda sad that it's something few people can appreciate these days.

But I think I said earlier, I do think it's a good idea if it can make kids any more interested in learning. It's a shame they don't care for books, but learning from a manga is much better than not learning at all.

QFT.

>> This method might be a good hook / start to reading wonderful books. ^^" I remember reading a comic version of Sun Tzu's Art of War before tackling the original one.

The art for Little Women is horrible. >_<

Aug 17, 2007 12:41 AM by gothicpsyche

shigures_editor said:
XDD Just the idea of a Ghandi manga makes me giggle.

xDD Indeed.

Aug 16, 2007 4:44 PM by Miriette

It's not sad that they're making educational manga so much as it's sad that it's the only way they can possibly get kids to read. Not only in terms of developing language skills either - when I was a kid, reading books with my mom was usually the highlight of my day (Lord of the Rings was always a favorite). I get a lot of enjoyment out of a good book, and it's kinda sad that it's something few people can appreciate these days.

But I think I said earlier, I do think it's a good idea if it can make kids any more interested in learning. It's a shame they don't care for books, but learning from a manga is much better than not learning at all.

Aug 16, 2007 2:37 PM by Krelian

I think it's a good idea ((: My teacher gave me an english comic to read in my sparetime instead of a book, because she apparently knew i loved comics and drawings etc. Oh, i miss her. D:
I don't really think it's sad they're making magas for education. I believe it is nice to have some variation in how to learn things - it's just like when you're watching a movie in class (entertainment purpose).

Aug 16, 2007 11:15 AM by bunbun

We had DBZ and maybe Yugioh at my middle school library if I remember correctly... my local library had a better selection though. Not that it mattered. I brought my own manga to school anyways. Who /doesn't/ want to read manga that doesn't include either blood, explicit words, or people making out?

Aug 16, 2007 9:19 AM by atlantiza

I cant believe some of you are actually against this idea.

My little cousins are completely adamant against reading books, which is sad to me but sort of how things turned out with the school system and their parents' teachings (;_;), but if they can actually LEARN something through comics, then by all means use those.

They're not supposed to be a replacement for textbooks, just a gateway to finding the tales and history more interesting. Therefore, they might be inspired to pick up the real thing one day (which is far better than the reality that most kids would never decide pick up the real thing ever).

My book-hating friend actually decided to read The Count of Monte Cristo thanks to Gankutsuou, and I am eternally greatful to that anime for that (because I consider that one of the most intriguing novels ever).

In any case, the comic Ghandi is so cute! Hee.

Aug 16, 2007 8:59 AM by accela

Well, at least they're gonna create a new generation of otakus xD
Still, it sounds pretty lame, manga should be just a manga, not school books.

Aug 16, 2007 8:33 AM by Bondius

Gulliver's Travels should be an interesting manga, to say the least.

Aug 16, 2007 8:06 AM by VK11

Krelian said:
Oh, don't even get me started on texting hehe. It seems to ruin even people with a decent command of the English language. Like my mom - I caught her trying to abbreviate 'of' the other day. What's worse, she abbreviated it 'uv' which is just as long and takes more time to type on a phone. And she teaches at a friggin' high school.

hahahaha, Im sorry but thats freaking funny.

Aug 16, 2007 6:37 AM by Sandgolem

Haha, thats so funny =),, "of" becoming "uv". And a teacher as well,, wow things must be tough!

Aug 16, 2007 5:55 AM by Zirgo

XDD Just the idea of a Ghandi manga makes me giggle.

Aug 16, 2007 5:55 AM by shigures_editor

Oh, don't even get me started on texting hehe. It seems to ruin even people with a decent command of the English language. Like my mom - I caught her trying to abbreviate 'of' the other day. What's worse, she abbreviated it 'uv' which is just as long and takes more time to type on a phone. And she teaches at a friggin' high school.

Aug 16, 2007 5:53 AM by Krelian

I agree reading is better for kids :P @ Krelian. AMEN. I swear the only reason kids learn to read is to send texts now a days :P r u saprized??

Aug 16, 2007 5:43 AM by Sandgolem

I liked Little Women. Kids should just read it rather then resorting to badly drawn comics. T.T

Aug 16, 2007 5:39 AM by Crystal

Zirgo said:
True, can't deny that classic novels outranks a manga version any day, but one can always hope that it might "wake up" an interest for the story and that the kids read the novel later on. Also I think it is better that the kids read something instead of nothing.

I suppose you're right - it's certainly better than reading nothing at all. I guess it's just depressing that reading books has become such an archaic practice. The only thing getting kids to read besides school assignments was Harry Potter, and it's finished now. And the effects are pretty evident if you examine young peoples' language skills.

Aug 16, 2007 4:20 AM by Krelian

If this helps children take an interest in history or literature, good on them. It's pretty sad the quality of these books is really bad though, it seriously looks like some half-assed MS Paint editing job instead of something published commercially. Not to mention the art ranges from really horrible to alright at best.

Aug 16, 2007 4:13 AM by Entropy

See All Comments