Albert The Alien

As the child of two teachers, education has always played a very important role in my life. I’ve always been encouraged to study hard, get good grades, and enjoy my educational experience.

As such, when I was given the opportunity to join Reading with Pictures – a non-profit organization getting comics into classrooms – I jumped at the idea of combining my two lifelong passions: education and comics.

Reading with Pictures has done so much for me:
1) Introduced me to so many wonderful and supportive people
2) Partnered me with fellow Albert the Alien creator, Gabrial Bautista
3) Given me my first professionally published project
4) Set me up with numerous speaking engagements, convention appearances, and opened doors for me I’m probably not even completely aware of
5) So many more things that I can’t even begin to start listing here

With education playing such a crucial role in my life and my work, I can’t help but pay attention when awful situations happen in schools. The latest of which was a tragedy beyond measure, and something this country will not soon forget.

So when Reading with Pictures posted the below press release, asking for all-ages comic donations, I had to participate.

Both Gabe and I feel for the families affected by this horrible tragedy, and as such we have donated a large supply of Albert the Alien comics to the kids of Newton through Reading with Pictures.

Below is the full press release, and they are still accepting donations of comics for the families. If you have some all-ages comics you would like to donate, please e-mail RWP at the below e-mail address.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families affected by this terrible event, and I hope our donation can somehow help to brighten someone’s day.

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We at Reading With Pictures reacted to the tragic news coming from Newtown, CT with the same sense of loss and sadness that everyone else felt. As a nonprofit organization with a special tie to education and schools, to see the bond of safety and trust punctured was absolutely heartbreaking.

The outpouring of support all across the nation has been inspirational and we want to help in our own small way. An important time of happiness between families is reading together and we want to put together a collection of kid friendly comic books to send to the families in Newtown, CT.

We’ll be working with connections we have in that community to coordinate the best possible direction for this donation but we wanted to ask for your own help in this comic book drive.

If you have any children’s comic books to donate or want to assist in this, please email info@readingwithpictures.org

Due to increased interest, we will accept donations through the end of January 2013. Please keep the following in mind:
1. We want children’s comic books only. Nothing scary, violent, suggestive in anyway. We will be scanning all donations to ensure the content is appropriate.
2. If possible, try to donate a few sets so we can spread them out among families
3. Your donations are tax deductible and we will provide all donors with a tax receipt
4. Reading With Pictures will attempt to document as much as possible the donation’s progress up until we send it but after that, we will want to respect the Newtown, CT community’s privacy

From all of us at Reading With Pictures, thank you so much for not only your compassion and caring but also believing in the power of comic books in creating community.

Update #1
We received our first donation yesterday! We’ll be cataloging each comic and making sure its all kid friendly, but at first glance it looks absolutely great!

We’re also just waiting to hear from our contact at Sandy Hook Elementary after reaching out. With everything that’s been going on, as well as school typically being out for holiday break, we are confident in hearing something concrete in the new year.

Reading With Pictures will also be donating a whole box of the anthology to this effort.