The Los Angeles Public Library and Tokyopop have announced a first-of-its-kind collaboration designed to encourage teens to read. Kids from 11 to 18 who join the Manga Madness Summer Reading Club at their local branch library, will receive a free folder, a book bag, reading log, and bookmarks. Every branch will have special scheduled teen programs as part of the reading club, and every reading club participant will receive a certificate at the end of the summer reading program.
Because of high demand from teen readers, the L.A. Public Library, which has 71 branches, has doubled and in some cases tripled the number of manga series ordered for their young adult collections. Because kids want to read manga, many educators have realized that manga (as well as other kinds of comics and graphic novels) are a great way to encourage reading -- and the more kids read, the better they get at it.
In addition to publishers like Tokyopop, Marvel, Viz, DC and others who have participated in reading and literacy programs, many comic book retailers such as
