ABDO Swoops in with Comics as Teaching Tools

Publishers Weekly has announced that educational and library publishing company ABDO will be offering e-book versions of Marvel comic books this fall. The move will help to build vocabulary skills for students, and downloadable teacher guides will be made available for those wishing to use the materials. ABDO uses its ABDO Spotlight pop culture series, with books from Marvel, DC and Dark Horse, to provide school and library copies of comics. By adding the e-book, ABDO hopes to add the Marvel Age and Marvel Illustrated titles to its Flash-based catalogue. Publisher Jim Abdo, had this to say about the announcement, "We know kids and teens love these action-packed adventure stories in print. With eBooks of Marvel titles, we're going to help educators entice readers with the latest reading technologies using the most popular characters in the world, all for kids to enjoy a book while they build reading and computer literacy skills." For those who might think that the move is not a worthy one, ABDO states that a team of comic book fans, editors and reading teachers was assembled to go over and create vocabulary guides, writing prompts and discussion questions for literature circles. Along with that focus, marketing director Dan Verdick said, "The old clich of a teacher confiscating a comic book because it's not good reading is long gone. They are ... filled with academic vocabulary terms and sophisticated themes." ABDO also offers workshops and help for those wishing to integrate comics into their classroom setting. And, after all, reading IS reading!!