28 May 2021

#AntarcticLog: Reeling in Kids

Posted by Shane Hanlon

#AntarcticLog is a series of comics by Karen Romano Young. You can find the originals here

#AntarcticLog is created with a broad audience in mind — from the savviest adults to kids new to the subject of scientific research — and adventure! — in the Antarctic. This week’s examples come from a series created to introduce kids (of any age) to the Antarctic food chain.

The teaching field inspires me, and always has, so much that I majored in education at Syracuse, only to realize that my passion and fascination wasn’t sufficient; my gifts lay elsewhere, so I turned instead to writing for children.  I rely on teachers like my friend Dieuwertje (DJ) Kast, of the University of Southern California’s Joint Education Program, to suggest creative ways to get ideas across.

The appeal of “charismatic megafauna” — adorable animals — to draw readers into my drawings — is easy to tap when there are penguins in the ecosystem whose food chain I’m describing.

Among the things I like most about creating #AntarcticLog is varying the layout and graphics in my six-by-six-inch Instagram-ready comic. In this comic, the food chain becomes a succession of “if-then” statements that float on the waves of the Southern Ocean.

Karen Romano Young is a writer, artist, deep-sea diver, and polar explorer. Follow her on Twitter & Instagram