On reading manga style graphic novels

When Michael, Alice, and Betty were at the Shuswap, I liked finding one-on-one time with each of them. If I say to all three of them that I am separating one of them out so that I can “do school”, the two that are left behind don’t feel that they have been cut out of something that is going to be really fun. Just the words “do school” seems to set up parameters that they don’t want to enter.

The book binding is on the right hand side
and not on the left hand side.
This is confusing to me.

Now, I had been watching Michael carry around a book called The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons – Oracle of Ages by Akira Himekawa . Once I saw him with his finger inserted into the middle of the book so he wouldn’t lose his page. Then he crawled into the chicken coop, did what he needed to do there, and backed out of the coop again, finger still inserted in the book so he would know what page he was on. That is a kid who wants to read.

Fifty years ago, I can remember my dad telling me in response to my question about how to engage with one of my children, “You have to find something they’re interested in.”

Doral went on to say, “that may take weeks, months, maybe even years.”

I didn’t want to hear that part of his advice, but something about the whole message rang true for me when I looked at that book Michael was carrying around.

I knew my job was to talk to him about what was in it if I wanted to make a connection with him.

To my drawing of an angry manga character
Michael added the ear extension meaning "blowing off steam".

To do my homework I had enter the internet and look up what manga meant. I had to read that the style of a manga character included drawing large eyes, small mouths, and abnormal hair colour.

I’m not really good at visualizing what that might mean, so I opened his book and tried to draw “manga-style.”

I held my finger on the page of my instructions and when I would read that the character’s tears had to be large enough to be caught in buckets, I drew big tears. 

Soon my note paper was filled with manga faces; I read a laugh had to engulf the face while the eyes at the same time had to be slits. Anger was portrayed with rosy cheeks, so I took a red crayon and made some of the faces angry. I was having fun.

I didn’t do just a little research. I did a lot of research. I went to the internet to find out who Akira Himekawa is. I found out this is a pen name for two women. I make the same mistake other people make on the internet because I found the two women were just one click away, which led me to their appearance at a gaming convention, and of course I had to watch them, now, so I listened to them in translation. I was busy making a large set of notes in one of my scribblers that I will never find again. At the gaming convention I learned why the book is written Japanese style, which for me seems back to front.

self portrait by Michael
Huuuua on top is the sound the character is making

When I felt armed with enough knowledge, I tried to get Michael into a discussion about the author(s). He showed no interest. I thought again about what my dad had said to me. I could see that a 9 year old boy had no interest in gathering the knowledge I would have gathered as an adult if I had been writing a nice essay.

I really had to drop my adult agenda and go to the child’s agenda. 

That feels like a loss to me because I have so much to give to him now about manga, at least in my terms of reference. “I did my homework. I am bringing it to you.” That is the feeling I have. I tried to remember my role is to be the teacher. I am not seen by him, yet, as the holder of the information he needs or wants.

I’ve discovered, if I want to keep the child’s interest, I have to turn mine off, just like a toggle switch. 

I’ve also learned that when he reads aloud to me, I have to let the pictures be driven by his interest, and not mine. 

“Doing school” is really hard, even when a person is certified by the corporation that seemingly owns all knowledge.

These are my notes as I am
learning how to draw  manga characters.
The words whoooo, kaboom, bwoof
bloomp, vwosh, snap and slasd-d,
ka-chin, urg, klang and fwoo
are not usually in my vocabulary.

I tested out Doral’s theory. Talk with children about something they are interested in. That was my form of “doing school.” Michael and I traded information now, and I showed him one of my angry manga face drawings. He took my pencil and to the ear of one of my characters he attached a pipe with a cumulous cloud at the end of it, which is the best way I can describe it, steam. Then he said to me, “Now the character is really angry.” I was thrilled to be trading information with him. A breakthrough for me, if not for him.

He didn’t take the book back to Calgary. He told me it belonged to his Aunt Bonnie. I’ve kept the book on my dresser, for a month now, since he has been gone. 

When I look at it, I feel a strong connection to my dad and to my grandson. 

 I think about The Great Binding Law of the Anishinaabe Nation which explains, “the seventh-generation stewardship is a concept that urges the current generation of humans to live and work for the benefit of the seventh generation into the future”. 

For me, “doing school” that day involved four generations.

Arta