News
Tokyopop's World Manga for Avalon High, Vocabulary
posted on by Egan Loo
At Book Expo America 2007, the publishers Tokyopop and HarperCollins announced the launch of a three-volume world manga based on the Avalon High novel by The Princess Diaries author Meg Cabot. As drawn by Jinky Coronado (Banzai Girl), Avalon High: Coronation #1: The Merlin Prophecy continues the story of a girl whose high school class is the apparent reincarnation of King Arthur's Camelot court. This first volumes ships in July of 2007.
The two publishers have previously adapted Erin Hunter's best-selling Lost Warrior novel series into a graphic novel. Both world manga projects are the result of a wide-ranging co-publishing agreement announced in March of 2006.
Tokyopop is also working with Kaplan, the publisher of test-taking guides, on vocabulary-building world manga. The first threes volumes will be unabridged stories of Psy-Comm, Warcraft, and Van Von Hunter with over 300 words commonly tested in SAT examinations. The words will be highlighted, defined, and broken down for pronouncing.
Publishers in Japan have used manga excerpts and anime/manga-inspired drawings to teach English vocabulary, particularly in the popular Moetan and Maritan series. The defunct Mangajin magazine and the Japanese the Manga Way book from Stone Bridge Press have used manga excerpts to similarly teach Japanese.
