Comic Books
Tuesday, November 9th, 2004
It surprises me that Comic books aren’t used more as a way to get kids to read. I remember reading them as a kid but I don’t remember anyone telling me that they approved of this kind of literature or that it did my reading skills any good to read them.
Comics are generally layed out in frames. Frames make it very easy to track a story and to jump ahead or jump back. Each frame contains some text and a picture. This is very different from typical book illustration. This is highly contextualized and can make reading much easier for people who have a hard time with large chunks of text. For those who have an easy time with reading this kind of format will feel clumsy at first, but I urge you all to give it a chance.
I agree with you that comics are a support for motivating developing readers. I’m not sure I agree that they do much for skill development, however. The reasons:
(1) the text and pictures often overlap, don’t necessarily progress left to right, are actually visually confusing in many instances;
(2) the text is too visually chopped up to promote the develop of reading fluency;
(3) one of the requirements of reading more sophisticated text (say 3rd grade and up) is decontextualized reading of words only. Struggling readers actually use context (pictures) more in their reading than good readers.
I occasionally read graphic novels as an adult (Will Eisner) and my sons, all relatively good readers read Spiderman, Hult, and other collections. I think comic books might support comprehension and interest and are probably worth studying as an art form. I don’t think they do much to support letter, sound, or word learning, or the development of reading fluency.
Well, I guess we’ll have to respectfully disagree.
I’d rather see a kid reading a comic book than not reading at all.
Many of your points are personal learning/reading style issues, not generic points about reading. I have no problem reading text in bubbles all within frames. Like other forms of reading, comic style is something one has to get used to but once you do it’s quite accessible.
Where we agree is that fast tracking of text on a line is not what comic book style is all about. However, I’m not convinced that reading comic books detracts from reading text on a line. One still decodes letters, words, and syntax in reading a comic book.
If memory serves I posted that on my old web site right after reading MAUS, a book (in comic form) that would not have had the same impact had it been straight text.
Richard: I read a lot of comic books starting in the third or fourth grade, and continued through high school. Comics brought me countless hours of enjoyment. I was also reading a lot of books from our school library, and getting books by mail through a book club. Reading came naturally to me, but I know it’s a struggle for others. Comic books are visually interesting, tell a story, and stir the imagination. And they’re fun! As a librarian I strongly believe that one of the most important thing one can do for a child, as a parent, relative, or friend, is to encourage a love of reading, as early as possible. If reading comics helps a “reluctant reader,” it certainly can’t hurt their reading skills, and may very likely improve them. I think it’s critical that one reads not only for information, but for pleasure. And comics and graphic novels do provide a lot of pleasure. I read MAUS too, and the comic book form was unexpectedly brilliant, perfect for the powerful story Art Spiegelman told.
im a avid reader of graphic novels and comic books my self i got into reading them at grade 5 i still read them im a teachers aid at ever green state, it was through comics about edger allen poe and “maus” and comic’s on dostoyevesky, jamyes joyce and dickens that got me into the lit world that i live in now ,and yes all the great masters of lit are also in comic form,check out dark horse pub if interested, providing interpetiation and dynamism to their alredy colorfull world i have my students read them and am impressed with the out come.
Thanks Joseph. MAUS is a personal fav of mine but I’ve liked many and when I was younger I read “Archie” quite a bit (even though my reality was quite different from the strip reality).
As an educator I’d never rely on comic books as my sole teaching tool–but I agree that I’d rather see a child reading a comic book than tuned out in front of the TV or XBox! Comic books are also a great way to get older kids, especially boys who think reading “real” books is for sissies, reading.
MAUS is incredibly powerful on so many levels, and the cartoon aspect adds to its depth–literary analysis through comics! I actually read it in college–it was part of a Jewish history course I took. Comic books can have a surprisingly high reading level. One good example (though not always p.c.) is the Tintin series.
Another plus for comic books is how they help kids who have trouble with visual tracking. Instead of having to keep your place on a page filled with lines of letters stacked on top of each other, a comic book’s frames help separate units of text. Kids are less likely to lose their place, making for a less frustrating reading experience–so they’ll keep reading instead of giving up.
Comic books can even be used to develop oral reading fluency–an area I’ve found my students struggle with. Just think of the expression and voices you could encourage kids to use!
Emily: I totally agree, thanks for your comment.
What’s interesting is that people who read fluently sometimes have a hard time reading comic book format and it makes them feel uncomfortable (uh, hello, how do they think dyslexics feel reading English?) and so, poo poo the format. But, in fact, the format is a useful scaffold for pieces of learning how to read. You’re right, it’s not gonna teach you phonics but it might actually allow a bit of content through. Nothing wrong with that. Thanks.
Actually, my second-grader is LD-Gifted and reads four grade levels ahead. However, because of his sensory issues and ADHD, he craves a lot of visual sensory input. He will ignore a video game or a TV show to read a manga book or a comic book novel or graphic novel written at the 6th or 7th-grade level, and will make comments to me about the text that make clear that he is following the story line.
As far as pictures aiding in vocabulary development by supplying context clues, this is a bad thing…why?
Comic book characters actually are characters, by the way, and they grow and develop — they aren’t one-dimensional “heroes.” Spiderman is a different individual from the Wolverine or Batman or Green Lantern, for instance.
He loves specific words and lyric poetry and I am certain that as he matures he will begin to read conventional books. But in the meantime, the wry and ultraviolet humor of some of the graphic novels and the excellent artwork supplements the complex story lines that some of these books support.
And, psychologically, once a child has gotten used to reading a 300-page comic book, a 300-page regular book looks less daunting.
The object of the game in the early grades is to get them reading and keep them reading. As far as I’m concerned, anything will do. The juvenile delinquents I used to prosecute did not hang out at the book section of the library (or even the comic book store). But many of my peers at university who majored in comparative literature were avid comic book collectors.
Karin: I coulnd’t agree more. Thanks, you said it better than I ever could.
My 3rd grade LD daughter loves manga and always has. She reads other books, but it was picture books that got her started loving reading and manga that gave her independence. She does have visual tracking problems and I also think the pictures really help her and keep her interest. Of course her teacher said she wished my daughter would read “real” books. All I know is that with manga at $10/book (and not available at the library), it’s an expensive habit!
I am so glad I stumbled upon this forum. I am a Master’s student in School Psychology at McGill University in Canada. I also tutored a young man with severe reading difficulties last year and found that he struggled to read at the 3rd grade level even if he was 13 years of age. His mom had gone through the trouble of finding interesting short stories (Book called Guys Read) and even though I found these stories great he still had difficulty keeping focused and wanting to read on. Then I had a “Eureka” moment. I know my husband always raved about how much comic books meant to him growing up and how they were the key for him in learning to love reading. I thought “Hmmm, maybe this is the key to getting this child actually interested in reading”. Everyone knows that children with reading or learning disabilities often are stronger in “right-hemisphere” type activities: drawing, being inventive, visuo-spatial skills, and I thought that the images, the humour and the short sentences in comic books would help keep his interest and want to continue reading a story to see what happens. So I brought my Calvin &Hobbes book to a session and it was an absolute smash. The child was not only starting to develop an interest in reading, he didn’t want to stop reading because he wanted to know what kind of antics Calvin would pull next. It was not only a great bonding experience between tutor and tutee, the humour in the strip and facial grimaces of Calvin did wonders on his comprehension of text. I agree will all people in this message board saying that the important thing with a child who has trouble reading is to get them to actually START to read, read more and most of love, develope a LOVE and a NEED to read. I was delighted to know that the teen I worked with asked his mom for the first time in 13 years if he could buy a book and also for the first time, picked up a book on his own, for leisure!! The mother was so excited, she picked up the whole C&H series!!
Of course, I also agree that comic books should be a stepping stone to more complicated text and to building comprehension in text without pictures. However, there is no reason why a child cannot continue to read comic books and enjoy them. My husband is 29 and has read most classics in English and French literature but I always marvel at the pleasure he still gets from curling up with a good comic book.
So, let’s use comic books, they’re an little-used treasure of reading:)
Lisa-Marie: Amen. Thank you for taking the time to share your expeirence with us.
It’s like the detractors of comic books think that people who read them lose IQ points or something but in fact, it’s a style issue: they don’t like getting information in this form and so, project that on everyone.
I don’t read comic books much but I do love the form and I know that getting information in this highly contextualized form can be just the ticket for some people who struggle to read.