Contact Information: Contact: Rachel Friedman rachel@newsandexperts.com
VENICE, CA--(Marketwire - March 16, 2009) - Illiteracy isn't just an inconvenience,
according to the National Literacy Institute. It's a national emergency.
According to recommendations recently made to President Obama's education
advisors, the U.S. is facing an unprecedented literacy crisis that reflects
a need for the nation to invest in early education programs and make
language development a primary focus of every preschool.
But Micah Linton, author and artist of "weebeasts," from Beast Stew /
Greenleaf Press Book Group (www.weebeasts.com) believes that we can help
stem that tide by offering children more complex books for early childhood
reading. His premise is that young children are like sponges, and can
absorb more information and concepts than their older counterparts.
"Young children are smarter than we give them credit for being," Linton
said. "When we look at how younger children embrace the larger universes of
Harry Potter, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, it's easy to see that they
can understand stories originally written for much older audiences. So, why
not write similar stories for their reading levels, from early childhood on
up?"
The interesting thing, according to Linton, is that sometimes the marketers
seem to know more about how smart kids are than educators do.
"Although the stories are aimed at older audiences, a lot of the licensing
and merchandising is aimed at younger audiences, and they aren't just
attracted by the pictures and art -- they know the characters and the
stories," Linton said. "They role-play the characters on the playgrounds
and in the backyard, and they understand the contexts. However, young
people don't distinguish between learning and play, so we can use these
entertainment franchises to lead them into stories with more complex themes
and worlds as they get older."
Linton believes that stories like Star Wars, in which the rebels could be
likened to the early colonists and the empire to the British crown, can
even help kids become more interested in their historical counterparts.
About Micah Linton
International chronicler and creator of the new weebeasts®, Micah Linton
was first recognized for his work as an artist and designer for more than
ten years in the video game industry. Linton was responsible for creating
hit video games for DreamWorks SKG, Activision, and Electronic Arts, among
other entertainment publishers.