Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson

One of the most successful and longest-running comic strips was Calvin and Hobbes. Telling the story of a young boy and his imaginary pet tiger, filled with stories of childhood and growth.

I have always had a soft spot this comic book may be because of identifying with Calvin.  A less than perfect student with an overactive imagination and a peculiar worldview.  Or possibly because it refused to sugar coat the realities of childhood.

The language in Calvin and Hobbes has a great deal of variety.  Calvin sometimes speaks like a normal eight year old boy, and sometimes speaks with a voice well beyond his years. The teacher should be able to find almost any linguistic feature that they were looking for in Calvin and Hobbes.

Published by UPS, teachers are allowed to use up to five comic strips from Calvin and Hobbes a year in the classroom.

This comic strip is one of my favorite strips to use in classroom.  Mostly because it has examples of classroom behavior, a great deal of laugh out loud moments  and some really witty insights.

Calvin and Hobbes has recently been collected into a full published version as well are several other collections.

Available from Amazon here