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Joshua Elder

Born: May 17, 1980 in Carmi, Illinois
Pen Name: Josh Elder

Connection to Illinois: Elder was born in Carmi. He graduated from Northwestern Illinois University in Evanston and lived in Chicago for many years.

Biography: Josh Elder is a journalist, lecturer and writer, primarily of comic books and graphic novels. He is an award-winning comic book author and the creator (along with artist Erich Owen) of the graphic novel series and nationally syndicated comic strip ''Mail Order Ninja''. A former associate editor at ''Wizard Magazine'', Elder also serves as graphic novel reviewer for the Chicago Sun-Times and Director of Operations for the literacy advocacy group ''Kids Love Comics'', a non-profit organization that promotes literacy and the arts using comics, graphic novels and manga.He learned to read at age four after his mother lost her voice while reading him the latest issue of the Transformers comic book series. Josh was so into the story that he had to make sure Optimus Prime, leader of the heroic Autobots was going to be all right. So, he used the images to figure out the story and looked up every word he didn’t already know. Within a week, he was reading, and comics have been his constant literary companions ever since. Now he travels all over the country talking about the value of comics as an artform, as a teaching tool and as a way to change lives for the better.Josh’s events fall into three general categories: workshops, lectures, and professional development. The workshops are aimed at groups of up to 60 and consist of a lecture on what comics are, how they’re made and why they’re awesome followed by a Q&A session and hands-on, how-to instruction on creating comics. The lectures are used for larger groups (in the hundreds) of kids, teens and/or adults, with the content tailored to fit the needs of the specific audience. The professional development includes setting up teacher/librarian symposiums on graphic novels, speaking on informational panels at conferences and seminars and working directly with teachers and librarians to help develop comic-centric programming and curriculum.Elder has spoken to classrooms of a dozen or so students and in auditoriums of over 350. He’s worked with children as young as five and with grandparents in their seventies. He’s been a guest lecturer at Northwestern University, Grinnell College and the Illinois Institute of Art. He’s hosted events for all ages at libraries in Boston, Chicago, New York City and St. Louis. He’s been a guest of honor at literary festivals in Charleston, North Carolina and Halifax, Nova Scotia. He’s served as a consultant to the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and done professional development for the New York Public School system and DePaul University.Currently, Josh is working with a non-profit organization called [http://www.readingwithpictures.org/Reading_With_Pictures/Home.html ''Reading With Pictures''], a program dedicated to bringing comics into the classroom. He's working with Northwestern University to fund and facilitate several national studies on comics in education as well as providing numerous resources to help teachers, parents and students make the best use of existing materials and find out how to use new materials in the most effective ways. To access his interviews and additional information about the program, go to:[http://graphicclassroom.blogspot.com/2009/08/major-comics-in-education-research.html http://graphicclassroom.blogspot.com/2009/08/major-comics-in-education-research.html] Educators can click [http://publishing.andrewsmcmeel.com/docs/default-source/amp!-comics-for-kids-teacher-guides/reading-with-pictures-teachers-guide.pdf?sfvrsn=6 here] to access the ''Reading with Pictures'' Teachers Guide. Josh is also founding a company that plans to create a database (not unlike netlibrary) of comics for use in schools in libraries. While they are still collecting usage stats and other information from libraries, the company's initial investigations indicates that they can cut the average checkout cost of any given title in half while providing access to thousands of titles. Josh and company believe this will be a gamechanging moment for graphic novels in schools and libraries and are looking to pick the brains of anyone out there interested in this type of development.


Awards:
  • '''''Mail Order Ninja'''''
  • -- Grand Prize Winner, Rising Stars of Manga, 2005
  • -- 25 Great Graphic Novels for Kids List, School Library Journal '''''Reading With Pictures

Primary Literary Genre(s): Fiction

Primary Audience(s): Young adult readers

Email: joshelder@readingwithpictures.org
Email: joshelder@readingwithpictures.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshelder?lang=en
Website: http://www.readingwithpictures.org/2012/02/bio-josh-elder/
Joshua Elder on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=joshua+elder


Selected Titles

  Frontline.
ISBN: 1427807213 OCLC: 271765625

Tokyopop, Los Angeles, Calif. : 2008.

Why we fight: Each of the three races in StarCraft, terran, protoss and zerg, is closely examined in this profoundly moving introduction to the StarCraft universe. As the combatants' facades are stripped away, the motivations that drive their war for survival are guaranteed to shock and awe.

Frontline.
ISBN: 1427816980 OCLC: 434563354

Tokyopop, Los Angeles, Calif : 2009.

Explore the thrilling, action-packed and breathtaking world of StarCraft in this collection of world-expanding adventures.

  Love bytes /
ISBN: 1934220345 OCLC: 281777170

Platinum Studios Comics, Los Angeles, CA : ©2007.

Sam Driscoll is a nice guy who never seems to get ahead in life until a self-aware computer named D.A.N.T.E. chooses Sam as a test subject to be the computer's proxy in the physical world in exchange for success, money, and respect. Then Sam meets Megan, the girl of his dreams, who is not part of D.A.N.T.E.'s plan, and hell hath no fury like an omnipotent computer scorned.

Mail order ninja
ISBN: 9781599615684 OCLC: 213407296

Spotlight, Edina, Minn. : 2009.

Presents two previously published manga volumes in which timid Indiana fifth-grader Timmy McAllister obtains his very own ninja to face the bullies and snobs of L. Frank Baum Elementary School.

Mail order ninja.
ISBN: 1598167286 OCLC: 70577575

Tokyopop, Hamburg ; ©2006.

Timmy McAllister orders his very own Ninja through the mail and the town of Cherry Creek, Indiana, may never be the same.

Mail order ninja.
ISBN: 1598167294 OCLC: 76901045

Tokyopop, Hamburg ; ©2006.

When fifth-grader Timmy McAllister decides to order a ninja through the mail, his town of Cherry Creek, Indiana may never be the same again.

Reading with pictures :
ISBN: 9781449458782 OCLC: 885596874

Featuring more than a dozen short comic stories, this volume addresses specific learning concepts in social studies, math, language arts, and science while offering an immersive textual and visual experience that kids will enjoy even as it helps them learn.

Scribblenauts unmasked :
ISBN: 9781401249267 OCLC: 897946156

The sequel to the popular video game SCRIBBLENAUTS UNMASKED arrives in this collected edition! Following the events of Scribblenauts Unmasked, Madame Xanadu and Phantom Stranger foresee a new threat to the DC Universe. They must enlist the help of Maxwell and Lily to return to the DC Universe and save the world as we know it--

Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman.
ISBN: 9781401261573 OCLC: 942745009

As Wonder Woman, Princess Diana of Themyscira is a warrior whose skills are surpassed only by her compassion and her desire to spread peace throughout the world. Unfortunately, there are those who would see this ambassador, and her message of harmony, wiped from existence. Ares, the god of war, fuels civil unrest within the Central African Republic of Itari. The end-bringer Typhon threatens to scorch the earth unless Wonder Woman and Poison Ivy can set aside their mutual animosity. And in front of high-schoolers, Diana must somehow best Superwoman without harming the villain's unborn child. A legal right to rehabilitation makes the Cheetah more lethal to her own family than her arch-nemesis, and a visit to Gotham pits the Amazon against several of the city's heroes and villains--all so that she may rescue the abducted offspring of the mother of monsters, Echidna.

StarCraft :
ISBN: 1427808317 OCLC: 221161378

Tokyopop, Hamburg ; ©2009.

The brutal ... The menacing ... The twisted ... Confront the vast, renowned world of "StarCraft" inside this collection of mind-blowing adventures. "Heavy Armor, Part 2", the adrenaline-pumping firefight between mentor and protg escalates to a fierce climax. Will the young Viking pilot outwit the man who taught him everything? Or will the teacher remain the undisputed master of heavy armor - and doom a colony? A Ghost Story Sterilized by war, a rocky planet's bounty and dark terrors have remained safely hidden - until a Kel Morian Combine crew catches wind of it hoping to strike big. There's just one problem: the planet seems to be haunted by a 'ghost'. Newsworthy A pro-Dominion reporter lands the scoop of lifetime: an exclusive sit-down with Emperor Arcturus Mengsk following an embedded mission with terran marines. Every good reporter tells both sides of the story, but when she comes face-to-face with atrocity, can she handle the brutal truth, much less report it? Creep Feared by all and understood by none, zerg creep finally comes under the knife in the laboratory of protoss scientists. But instead of shedding light on the bizarre bio-matter, the scientists spiral into a psychologically disturbing and nightmarish struggle against a completely unknown foe.

  Starcraft :
ISBN: 1945683996 OCLC: 957302048

Presents a series of short stories from the world of StarCraft in graphic novel format involving an intergalactic war, alien races, and strange new worlds.

  Starcraft.
ISBN: 1427808325 OCLC: 262886737

Tokyopop, Los Angeles, Calif. : 2009.

War torn: For years, Senator Corbin Phash used his power and influence to hide his son Colin's psionic abilities from the Dominion, but their secret has finally been exposed. Now Colin is on the run and hiding among thousands of refugees, but even if he can escape being caught, how can he stop being haunted by the trauma-induced nightmares of everyone around him?

The rising stars of manga.
ISBN: 1595328157 OCLC: 61330751

Tokyopop, Hamburg ; 2005.

In this series title, aspiring graphic artists showcase their work.

 

 

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