Reading Comics
Online, once-a-week advanced reading classes
Hi I’m Emma, and I teach Reading Comics!
Saturday mornings (12pm Eastern / 9am Pacific), or
Thursday evenings (7pm Eastern / 4pm Pacific)
SATURDAYS:
September 19, 26
October 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
November 7, 14, 21
December 5, 12, 19
January 9, 16, 23, 30
February 6, 13, 20, 27
March 6, 13, 20, 27
April 3, 10, 17, 24
May 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
THURSDAYS:
September 17, 24
October 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
November 5, 12, 19
December 3, 10, 17
January 7, 14, 21, 28
February 4, 11, 18, 25
March 4, 11, 18, 25
April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
May 6, 13, 20, 27
Live class: $55/month
Recordings only: $30/month
This class is all about words, idioms, and references. We’ll focus on understanding every bit of meaning, so we can get the jokes!
This is a webinar — students will have their cameras turned off. They’re also able to volunteer to read their favorite strips aloud.
Oh — this class comes right before “Arguing Comics”, which is an optional add-on. This one is a webinar — students will not have their cameras on.
A problem
Isn’t it ironic?
An odd fact of modern society: most adults can’t read at an “adult level”.
The average American adult reads at a 6th grade level.
Only 25% of college graduates can read at a “proficient” level.
This holds smart people back.
As parents, this is disquieting. We want our kids to excel at their education, and to thrive in life! (We even want their skills to show on standardized tests like the SAT.)
We don’t want reading to be the barrier that (for most people) it is.
How can we help them?
Mastery, meet love
We’ve all seen the attempts to fix this. Worksheets, flashcards, grade-aligned primers…
Having worked at a tutoring center, I know that even when these tools work, they can ignore the most important task: getting kids to want to read. (Sometimes they can even backfire!)
What if…
But what if there were a way to help kids
learn to read closely…
at an adult level…
that made them hungry to read more?
Meet a boy and his tiger!
Calvin and Hobbes might be the most beloved comic strip ever. It’s imaginative, gorgeous, and hilarious.
What you might not know is that Calvin and Hobbes can be a powerful way to learn the art of “close reading” — and to foster a powerful vocabulary.
Words, words, words
And oh, the words they’ll learn.
Calvin and Hobbes is that rare sort of book that’s filled with explosions, aliens, and six-year-old humor… and also SAT-level vocabulary:
Anima. Ballistic. Consecrate. Dysfunctionality. Entreaty. (And that’s just up to “E”!)
In this class, your kids will capture college-level words, learn them cleanly and simply, and remember them forever.
This year, we’ll be reading four comics —
What do we get?
Books
After you sign up, you’ll need to buy your own copy of the books we’re reading together this term.
A translation packet
After each lesson, we’ll email you our “Calvin & Hobbes Dictionary” — a PDF that clearly lays out
the definitions,
the explanations, and
the pronunciations
for each of the challenging words.
Memory cards
After each lesson, we’ll email you a deck of spaced-repetition flashcards — so everything your kid learns gets locked in their long-term memory.
How’s it work?
1. Sign up
Choose “live” or “recorded”.
2. Buy the book(s)
The list o’ books is above.
3. Come to class
We’ll explain everything, and get you started reading!
4. Do your homework
15 new pages a week of close reading, plus (if you want) spaced-repetition review of the past vocabulary.
5. Keep coming to class
In “Reading Comics”, we do dramatic readings of some of the strips, and ask why is this funny? In “Arguing Comics”, we do all that and discuss the big ideas that the strips raise.
Questions, answered
What dates?
Saturday mornings or Thursday evenings in the 2026–27 school year. See the dates at the top of this page.
If 7 or more students sign up live for one time, then that will be our official time for the rest of the school year!
Families who sign up by July 25th get 20% off the first month.
Why just 50 minutes?
With this method, we can get big results in a short time!
What ages?
These comics are for all ages. For the sake of this course, we’ll set the bottom at 8, and the top at 18.
How much homework?
Assume an hour spread through the week: ~15 new pages, and daily review of past words.
I already own a book…
We’re scared of being sued by the publisher (famously, they’re the sue-y sort), so if you’re new to class, we insist that you buy a copy. (If you’d like, you can gift it to a friend who struggles to love reading. Pretty good karma, there.)
How much does it cost?
$55/month for the live course, and only $30/month for the recordings only. (If you’d like to do this and Arguing Comics, it’s more.)
Will there be grades?
Goodness no.
Can I catch up?
Yes — or start in the middle! When you sign up, we’ll send you access to all of the lessons you missed.
How does the recorded option work?
You’ll get the same materials, and every Monday, the video recording of the lesson will be ready for you.
Is there a family discount?
It’s built in! This is designed for whole families — so you can sign up all your kids for the price of one.
What if I don’t like it?
As is standard for a Science is WEIRD course, if you decide this isn’t for you, we’ll refund you the whole of the last month of your subscription — just ask!
How does the recorded option work?
You’ll get the same materials, and every Friday, the video recording of the lesson will be ready for you.
Does Brandon know this monkey business is going on?
Absolutely! In fact, it was his idea, and uses techniques he’s honed over a lifetime of making things shiny for kids. Unfortunately, he’s busy taking over the world, so I’ve stepped in.
Were all of these comics originally in English?
No! Macanudo (Argentinian slang for “swell” or “nifty”) was translated from Spanish, and Moomin was translated from Swedish. That’s right, Reading Comics is going global!
Where’s this come from?
A 2e kid doing silly voices
Growing up, I loved reading books aloud and hated reading comprehension worksheets. My parents had to mandate that my book bag not be over a certain weight so that I didn’t injure my back!
Calvin and Hobbes was one of my favorites.
An actor
When I was in theatre school, I was routinely expected to cold-read scripts written during the Jacobean period, make clunky translated passages feel natural and effortless, and flawlessly pronounce multisyllabic words in front of judgy-eyed audiences.
My love of research helped, but my childhood obsession with READING ALOUD got me the most of the way there — silly voices and all.
An elementary school tutor
As an elementary school tutor, I worked with loads of frustrated kids. Like me, they were allergic to worksheets, even as they craved mastery over the material.
I helped kids score higher on tests by really drilling the words — but there was only so far I could go.
I thought, there has to be a better way!