Tool Tuesday: May the Fourth and the Picture Books of Jeffrey Brown

This post comes just a little in advance of a timely “holiday!” May the Fourth (Be With You) is a great day to celebrate students’ widespread interest in all things Star Wars. One of my favorite resources over the years has been Jeffrey Brown’s series, which started with Darth Vader and Son. This and other books by Brown require a stretch of the imagination: what if Luke (and other characters) actually grew up with Vader as a father figure?

The books are comprised of single-panel comics, a format uniquely suited to narrative language mapping with an inferential twist. There are usually one or two story elements that are just a bit out of view and need to be extrapolated, though I have found that kids are very engaged by the challenge!

Additionally, the comics provide good practice for us as clinicians, scaffolding within students’ zone of proximal (narrative) development. For many of our students producing narratives at that “and then and then and then,” Action Sequence level, there are opportunities here to find Kick-Offs, Reactions, Feelings, Consequences, or other combinations of more complex elements. Presented below are a few examples of the panels in Darth Vader and Son, with possible interpretations at the Abbreviated Episode level.

While I highly recommend purchasing Brown’s books (or borrowing from your public library), a nice trick that makes this content accessible is that each panel is a stand-alone story and can be a great mini-lesson without using the whole book!

Use them over time to help your students internalize the story elements, icons, and more complex structure. Brown’s cartoons have been widely shared, such that you can find many panels in Google Images. This makes for a great use of MindWing’s Digital Icons for a paperless lesson!

If you (and your students) like Darth Vader and Son, there is a wealth of material in Brown’s other titles: Vader's Little Princess, Goodnight, Darth Vader, Darth Vader and Friends, Rey and Pals, and A Vader Family Sithmas.

If you are looking for other types of material to work with the Star Wars context, the wordless “Cutscenes” shown between the gameplay in the Lego Star Wars Video Games are another great resource, available on YouTube. These re-create scenes from the movies using LEGO characters and elements, and are also great for narrative language work. An example is here, though you can find more with a search.

May the Fourth Be With You!