(from everyone's favorite Jen Vaughn)
Saturday was Read Comics in Public Day, created by the lovely and talented Brian Heater and Sarah Morean.
In honor of this, picture!*
*We're cheating: this picture was not actually taken on Saturday. But I feel that of everything in our archive, it best captures the spirit of public reading.
Do you read graphic novels by First Second Books? If so, let us know who you are! Send us a photo with you reading a book or books published by First Second, and we'll thank you with a free book!
Send all photos or questions to email@example.com.
Jane in California wrote to us, asking us to tell Emmanuel Guibert that she loves the Sardine books and to please hurry up and make her a movie too.
We passed on the message. And here's what Emmanuel sent back:
And Jane was thrilled:
... and when she found out Emmanuel lived in Paris she told her dad "Oh, that's why he didn't understand me!" Her father asked her what she meant. She said "well I wasn't asking for a drawing, I was asking for a movie!"
With her father's help, she even wrote the following to Guibert:
Merci pour le dessin monsieur! S'il vous plait faire un film et un D.V.D de sardine pour moi et le terre. Jane!
... which I guess Monsieur Guibert will simply have to oblige!
Chris is a school librarian. She told us: “I think Kampung Boy is the book that more than any other really made me understand what a graphic novel is; how intertwined, how connected text and illustrations are. I constantly found myself going back and forth – always noticing something new.”
photo by Jack Demuth
This letter just came in... If anyone knows who the KAMPUNG BOY reader was on the F-train, please let us know at firstname.lastname@example.org and we'll put you in touch with Kashminder who wants to say thank you:
Hello: My name is Kash and I met a woman on April 9th on the F-Train around 7pm who was reading the Kampung Boy book. As I recognized the drawings and told her I am a Malaysian and read my first Kampung Boy at the age of 8 (around 24 years ago, ~1983) she told me that it was printed by First Second books. I asked her if I can buy it at Barnes and Noble (my original copy ...gosh knows where it is anymore) since a lot of it is part of my childhood. She actually GAVE me the copy she was reading. I could not believe it, and my stop arrived at East Broadway and I had to get off. I wish I got her name or number to thank her personally. She was wearing a blue-bandana, and I believe an olive jacket. I may be wrong about the jacket color. My dad knew the comic "Lat" or Datuk Mohamed Nor Khalid. They worked in neighbouring companies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. While Datuk Khalid worked in NST, my dad worked in Unilever. They would get together in the field to watch soccer games between companies. Datuk Khalid even told my dad he would put him in one of his comics. One day there it was. My dad was in his comics driving our car. I don't remember which series was it, but the comic was my dad's car was stuck in a flood, and the car is our old German Opel Kadet. I hope the lady in the train will contact me, or someone from First Second knows who she is. Thank you again. Regards,