Practicing Literacy

One of the more traditional scripts contained in these children's comics periodicals are those that activate the child's literacy. In order to engage in verbal dexterity and playfulness, these scripts presume a certain type of play that Robert Caillois has defined 'agôn' and for which "sustained attention, appropriate training, effort and a will to win" are needed (57). Crosswords or other verbal fill-out games offer children a way to be rewarded out of merit, and manifest that literacy through competitions.  

Below you find a range of examples from Petits Belges and Spirou from 1950.