{"id":15782,"date":"2016-11-24T08:00:15","date_gmt":"2016-11-24T08:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=15782"},"modified":"2016-11-22T18:10:54","modified_gmt":"2016-11-22T18:10:54","slug":"stinky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2016\/11\/24\/stinky\/","title":{"rendered":"Stinky"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Eleanor Davis<\/strong> (Toon Books\/Raw Junior)
\nISBN: 978-0-9799238-4-5<\/p>\n

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Smells Like a True Favourite\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once upon a time – and for the longest time imaginable – comics were denigrated as a creative and narrative ghetto cherished only by children and simpletons. For decades the producers, creators and lovers of the medium struggled to change that perception and gradually acceptance came.<\/p>\n

These days most folk accept that word and pictures in sequential union can make stories and tell truths as valid, challenging and life-changing as any other full-blown art-form.<\/p>\n

Sadly, along the way the commercial underpinnings of the industry fell away and they won’t be coming back\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Where once there were a host of successful, self-propagating comics scrupulously generating tales and delights intended to entertain, inform and educate such specific demographics as Toddler\/Kindergarten, Young and Older Juvenile, General, Boys and Girls periodical publications, nowadays Britain, America and most of Europe can only afford to maintain a few paltry out-industry licensed tie-ins and spin-offs for younger readerships.<\/p>\n

The greater proportion of strip magazines are necessarily manufactured for a highly specific \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and dwindling \u00e2\u20ac\u201c niche market, whilst the genres that fed and nurtured comics are more effectively and expansively disseminated via TV, movies and assorted games media.<\/p>\n

Thankfully old-fashioned book publishers and the graphic novel industry have a different business model and far more sensible long-term goals, so the lack has been increasingly countered and the challenge to train and bring youngsters into the medium taken up outside the mainstream – and dying – periodical markets.<\/p>\n

I’ve banged on for years about the industry’s foolish rejection of the beginner-reading markets, but what most publishers have been collectively offering young\/early consumers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and their parents (excepting, most notably the magnificent efforts of David Fickling Books and their wonderful comic The Phoenix<\/strong>) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has seldom jibed with what those incredibly selective consumers are interested in or need.<\/p>\n

In recent years however the book trade has moved with the times and where numerous publishing houses have opened comic medium divisions, one in particular has gone all-out to cultivate tomorrow’s graphic narrative nation.<\/p>\n

Toon Books\/Raw Junior was established by Art Spiegelman and Fran\u00c3\u00a7oise Mouly as an imprint of the groundbreaking and legendary alternative magazine to provide high-quality comics stories to entice pre-schoolers and starter-readers into a lifelong love affair with strips in particular and reading in general.<\/p>\n

Their burgeoning stable of talented creators have produced a wealth of superbly superior comic tales in three accredited educational standards (Level 1: First Comic for brand new readers, Level 2: Easy-to-Read for Emerging Readers and Level 3: Chapter Books for Advanced Beginners) and the company even supplements their publications with an online tool.<\/p>\n

TOON-BOOKS.com offers follow up such as interactive audio-versions read by the authors \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and in a multitude of languages \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cartoon maker\u00e2\u20ac\u009d facility which allows readers to become writers of their own adventures about the characters they have just met in the printed editions. Many books include a page of tips for parents and teachers on ‘How to Read Comics with Kids’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This particular yarn from Eleanor Davis sticks tight to traditional fare winningly rendered as she introduces a gloomy, anxious swamp monster whose smelly, dank world of pickled onions, possums, slugs, toads and especially stench seems likely to be upset forever after new neighbours move in\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

There’s a town near the swamp and in it are kids. Kids who like baths and eat cake smell weird\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Stinky is especially nervous of a new kid. Somehow he’s even worse than the others. He’s called Nick<\/em>, eats apples, likes toads and is building a tree house in Stinky’s swamp! Determined to drive off the newcomer, the moist monster undertakes a campaign of terror but the little human pest just accepts all the nasty surprises and keeps on building\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

And thus begins an epic struggle which will result in a most unique friendship\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Gently hilarious, beautifully illustrated and heart-warmingly proving that it takes all sorts to make a world, Stinky<\/strong> is a fabulous walk on the wild side you’ll find impossible to forget – especially as your hosts have been kind enough to provide you with a detailed map to follow\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6
\n\u00c2\u00a9 2008 RAW Junior, LLC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Why not check out the scene at: http:\/\/www.toon-books.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Eleanor Davis (Toon Books\/Raw Junior) ISBN: 978-0-9799238-4-5 Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Smells Like a True Favourite\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 9\/10 Once upon a time – and for the longest time imaginable – comics were denigrated as a creative and narrative ghetto cherished only by children and simpletons. For decades the producers, creators and lovers of the medium … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Stinky”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[77,97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-childrens-books-and-comic-strips","category-kids-all-ages"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s4AFj-stinky","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}