While he has certainly worked in children’s media before, it can be argued that Art Spiegelman has traditionally done much to dispel the myth that a graphic novel is the same as a comic, and that all of the above are “kid stuff”. His writing and art have never shied away from controversial topics, such as the September 11th attacks in his 2004 publication In the Shadow of No Towers and the impact of the Holocaust on its survivors in his most famous work Maus.

Now, however, it seems the graphic guru is happily setting his sights to kid stuff for a change, after all. Claiming the standard “See Spot Run” starters leave children disinterested and underengaged, he is creating a series of his own primersto start kids off on the right foot with reading, and appreciating language and art. The latest in the series, Jack in the Box, features the toy of the same name (which gave me the nervous sweats as a child).

“It’s a matter of thinking that kids, because they’re not experienced in the world, they’re somehow stupid. It’s a Victorian notion that their minds are innocent, and they are, but they’re also hungry,” he said.

Good! You go, Art Spiegelman.