Teacher Banning 8 y.o. DS from bringing Bunny vs Monkey books to school for his friends to read

@alixpally I hope you see this!

😍

Jamie Smart is a good 'un.

He's doing lots of work promoting about reaching kids who are reluctant readers.

He doesn't NEED to do this.

Bunny v Monkey shifted it's millionth copy last week.

Amazing 😍

@alixpally Jamie Smart has just found out about this thread and posted about it on twitter - he’d like to get in touch !

Jamie Smart twitter

Omg 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 (huge Jamie Smart fans here)

Exactly.

Why don't you donate a set to the class library.

Is there a rule where children shouldn’t really be bringing in stuff from home? I can understand if that’s the case? If not, just have an informal discussion with the teacher about why it’s such a problem- maybe it’s too distracting in class? If it’s a matter of personal taste, the teacher is being unreasonable but is it worth causing an issue with the teacher? Your child is the one who has to deal with them daily and it might just be easier to explain to him why it can’t be brought in.

If graphic novels are so dreadful and not "proper books" why is this on just about every recommended reading list for GCSE/A-level ?

Most of all they are cartoons strips.It I'd all dialogue.where is the descriptive writing, where are the literary devices

So people think graphic novels/comics can't use literary devices.

Crikey 🫠

Go in and talk to the teacher if you want clarification. Mumsnet is not going to give you any answers for a decision the teacher has made for an individual class in a particular school.

BvM is a gateway drug to Flember.

Flember is also by Jamie Smart.
Its a real life 'proper' old fashioned book.

Speak to her and get to the bottom of precisely why she has told him not to bring them in first. Perhaps she thinks they’re encouraging silly behaviour? I haven’t read them but I know some teachers felt Horrid Henry was guilty of this a few years ago.

I’m an English Lit lecturer desperately trying to keep the subject alive so no books are off limits with my DC, honestly anything we can do to keep kids reading is fine by me.

I think teacher just doesn't want any distractions in classroom, which is fairly reasonable.

Most of all they are cartoons strips.It I'd all dialogue.where is the descriptive writing, where are the literary devices?

Yeah, you can't do anything with cartoons....(this is also Jamie Smart)

Come the revolution…

My granddaughter's class last year went through a really silly phase. They are 8/9. The boys were very disruptive and the girls suffered for it. The school has now stopped pupils coming in with PE kit on because the boys behaviour was different on those days. They allowed football kits, now they've gone back to uniform. I wouldn't necessarily question what a teacher needs to do to manage a class. She can deem them inappropriate for the classroom, but shouldn't be putting them down re reading at home.

😁

@shockeditellyou it's sad that most comics are gone. They were cheap and easily available from newsagents everywhere.
Bunny vs Monkey is from the Phoenix Comic which was started as a way to get children excited about reading again.
Unfortunately it's often not available in actual shops. WHSmith sell it but I rarely see it in supermarkets or newsagents. Most readers get it on subscription through the post. It's fantastic it's popular but unless you know of it's existence (ie seeing it on the shelf) you wouldn't be buying it.

@Needmorelego that's a really good point. I wonder how much the decline in comics has harmed literacy rates in young children?

It does make me laugh when people get all snobby about comic books/graphic novels.
I recently joined a Facebook group for old British comics (Eagle, Bunty, Battle, Tammy etc).
Basically if someone was a child between the 1940s and 1990s they would have read at least one weekly comic. More if they had generous parents or swapped with siblings/friends. For 50 or so years children had the fantastic pleasure of weekly chapters of sometimes up to 10 different stories.
Different genres all in one comic.
You had your Victorian orphans, ponies boarding schools, comp schools. Sci fi ones. Futuristic utopia/distopia, War stories, Spy stories, adventure stories, silly stories, stories about step families, stories about friendship, stories about haunted dolls and evil cameras.
Oh I could go on......
Sadly these most excellent comics mostly died out towards the end of the 80s/early 90s. Now we have whole generations who have never had that pleasure and joy.
I keep meaning to read these Bunny vs Monkey books. I must get on with doing that 😂

Op you do not know the children, you do not know their readings ability, you do not know their parents and whether they are likely to come in and complain.
She maybe does not want your ds playing favourites with his books.
Most of all they are cartoons strips.It I'd all dialogue.where is the descriptive writing, where are the literary devices?
You are not responsible for the children learning these things. She is!

There is nothing in the op to say the teacher publicly criticised his reading choices. She said to her DS ( we jave no knowledge this was privatelu or publicly) they were inappropriate for her reading class.

Finally, an 8 year old still crying about this at home is frankly bizarre! Thr reason he is so upset is because he was using this to boost his popularity and influence amongst his peers, which is another good reason for stopping it.
It isn't your class, it isn't up to you to decide how to run the class.Butt out!

There are also some amazing graphic novels and webcomics out there for adults that are as absorbing, well-written, densely plotted and creative as any "proper book".

I agree. These books are often the first ones a kid reads alone. They teach kids that reading alone can be fun and not-scary. The whole point is that they are accessible and absorbing. They're not the end of the journey, they're the beginning of it.

Kids in my child’s class also going mad for Bunny v Monkey. It’s a publishing phenomenon and really encouraging that it’s published by a small independent publisher (last time I checked anyway, who knows now as Random house hoovers up everything).

It’s wonderful to see children devouring any books- especially the reluctant readers enjoying the same titles as bookworms. That’s the power of good comics/ graphic novels as they can be enjoyed by all. My daughter reads the chunky Harry Potter books one week and a Bunny v monkey the next.

Annoys me how snobby some people are about comics.