OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — The Winnebago Area Literacy Council is using children's creativity as a tool to promote literacy this summer.
Since May 6, the council has been putting on the Mark Gruenwald Comic Book Creation Challenge, to encourage children to read, by giving them the tools needed to create their own comic books.
Wanda Tracy is the event and communications manager for Winnebago Literacy, and said children are "really excited about doing their own storytelling," and have signed up in record-breaking numbers for this year's contest. She adds that she sees evidence the program is helping children's literacy all year-round.
“[T]he local school district has said that the summer slump has slowed…" said Tracy. "Over the summer when they’re not getting that constant instruction level, [children] do regress…If we can keep kids really engaged with literacy over the summer…when they come back in the fall, they’re ready to start from where they left off.”
The challenge, which provides people with pencils, paper, drawing seminars and everything they need to complete their comics, is named after Oshkosh Native Mark Gruenwald, who worked as a writer and editor for Marvel Comics before he passed away in 1996.
Tracy says if Gruenwald were still alive, he'd be "really excited" about the work being done in his name.
Liam, Elodie, and Emilia Schmidt are among the children participating in this year's event. They came out to the Oshkosh Public Library to sign up Friday, and Emilia says they're "really, really, really excited," to get to work on their comics.
Elodie already has some creative ideas, for what her story will be.
"I'm going for French Toast Invasion..." she said. "French toast with little arms and legs that go psycho every time they hear something bad about French toast," she explained.
The contest runs until August 30 and is open to all ages. Anyone interested in signing up can visit the Winnebago Area Literacy Council website for more details.
