Like the superheroes of comic books, Josh Elder – as well as Reading With Picture, the non-profit he founded in 2009 – has an origin story. It begins when he was a young child and his school librarian mother would read to him before bed, with the stories chosen inevitably including the occasional comic book. One evening, his mother had a case of laryngitis which prevented her from finishing a particular comic, so Elder decided to read it on his own. There was a slight problem, however, as the youth did not yet know how to read.
“I could follow the story through the images,” Josh Elder told Publishers Weekly in 2010. “I knew the plot and using that visual context I was able to reverse engineer a lot of the words I didn’t already know and within about two weeks I finished it myself.”
After graduating from Northwestern University, Elder teamed with artist Eric Owen to create Mail Order Ninja for TokyoPop. The resulting graphic novel initially failed to generate any traction, so he began touring the country and making appearances at local libraries. The marketing effort was a resounding success. More significantly, Elder realized afterwards that librarians and teachers were in need of more graphic novels that not only entertained but helped children learn as well.
The final breakthrough for Josh Elder occurred on the New York City subway in 2008. Elder attended the small-press MoCCA Arts Festival earlier in the day. When he got to the station, a fight broke out on one of the subway trains. Like a good fledging superhero, Elder stepped in and subdued the culprit. As he waited for the police to arrive, he noticed a group of children who were still frightened from the incident and tried to calm them.
“Nothing worked,” he later explained. “I had a bunch of comics of mine left over from the show so I took them out and gave them to the kids. And it was like a light switch had been flicked. In a second the tears of every single one of them were gone.”
The experience effected Josh Elder just as much as the children. “It was incredible,” he told Publishers Weekly. “It was the greatest moment of my life. I knew at that point I had to see this happen over and over again. That’s the moment when Reading With Pictures was really born.” Elder’s goal for the non-profit was multifaceted – develop an educational graphic novel, conduct workshops across the country instructing teachers on how to use comics in the classroom, research the historical impact of comics as education tools, and create on online database of research papers and existing class curriculums to help teachers craft their own programs.
The first Reading With Pictures graphic novel utilized Kickstarter, which not only allowed for its publication but served as a fundraiser for the newly established non-profit. “Volume one came out in 2010 and was kind of our proof of concept that comic books could be both educational in nature but also include stories that kids want to read,” Trevor Mueller, the organization’s head of marketing, explained to Women Write About Comics.
Although teachers across the country loved the concept, they also proposed changes for future editions. Specifically, they wanted better adherence to Common Core curriculum standards and an extensive teacher’s guide with lesson plans and general best practice tips. Their suggestions were not only heard but integrated into the second Reading With Pictures anthology, Comics That Make Kids Smarter, released in 2014.
“We’re covering language, arts, math, science and social studies, and there’s a number of different individual comics that are covered within those broader areas – things like George Washington, the Articles of Confederation and why they moved from the Articles to the Constitution,” Josh Elder told education website K-12 Dive when the volume was released. “Topics like probability and statistics, and we teach that using a Pokémon-style monster battle. It’s all about finding the odds and winning the game using that. The core concepts have to be taught. We’re just putting them in a different context creatively.”
Comics That Make Kids Smarter was well received upon its release. “Some of the greatest creative talents in comics and visual literacy produced this book,” David Cutler wrote on Edutopia. “Highlights include George Washington: Action President by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey, Doctor Sputnik: Man of Science by Roger Langridge, and The Power of Print by Katie Cook. I’m fond of Solution Squad: Primer, an adventure story about a team of teenage heroes whose powers are based on mathematical concepts. The lesson plan reads: ‘Caught in a deathtrap in which the only means of escape is solving a prime number puzzle, the team creates a list of prime numbers using a prime number sieve to crack the alphanumeric code and catch their archenemy, The Poser. Students will read and discuss part of the comic as a group and solve the encoded message alongside the heroes.’”
Non-profit organizations inevitably change over time – with original founders leaving and new leadership taking the reins – and the same held true for Reading With Pictures. “As you may have noticed from our social media and ongoing updates to the website, we’re in the midst of exciting changes to our organization, our mission, and our board,” the organization announced in February 2021. “Reading With Pictures was founded in 2009 by Josh Elder, whose vision was to bring comics into the classroom as a tool that teachers can use to engage students of all abilities. Since those days, the conversation about the comics medium, visual arts, visual literacy, and reader engagement has led to a much larger opportunity. With this new global conversation in mind, Reading With Pictures is undertaking wholesale changes with our organization. We are rebuilding our board of directors with brilliant minds who represent communities and cultures in ways that have been long overdue.”
The use of comic books and graphic novels as education tools has seen a huge upswing since Josh Elder’s epiphany on the New York subway in 2008 – and Reading With Pictures is still intent on leading the way.
Anthony Letizia