Comics provide gateway to youth literacy
, Staff Writer
12-02-2008
Comic books and graphic novels have gained mainstream popularity in recent years, and as a result they may be creating more enthusiastic young readers, say librarians.
In this age of constant visual stimulation from TV and the Internet, children are reading for entertainment less and less. Comic books and graphic novels can help entice kids back to the written word. They can help bridge the gap between visual media and books.
Comic books aren’t just about superheroes anymore. They cover a wide variety of topics and appeal to an extensive range of readers.
Stories written in comic format have a beginning, a middle and an end, just like traditional texts. They also involve complex characters. The stories are condensed, but they still include literary devices such as allusion, satire and irony.
Ennis Public Library head librarian Ray Lowry said today’s comic books and graphic novels cover many genres and appeal to many different age groups.
“Graphic novels can be the stimulus to get kids to read, and some really enjoy it,” Lowry said. “It’s just another form of writing.”
In “Adventures in Graphica,” a book about using comic books to help kids read, author Terry Thompson tells readers that comics can help struggling readers visualize what they are reading.
“Whether it be their less threatening nature, their entertainment component, or their high-interest topics, comics are engaging,” Thompson said. “Because they are engaging, they often can perk up our passive readers and offer them the experience of what it feels like to be an active participant in the reading process – a feeling that, regrettably, many of them have never had before.”
The term “graphica” encompasses comic strips, comic books and graphic novels. Thompson defined graphica as a “medium of literature that integrates pictures and words and arranges them cumulatively to tell a story or convey information; often presented in a comic strip, periodical or book form known as comics.”
Many best selling books and classic novels have also been rendered as graphic novels.
Donna Montgomery, library media specialist for Ennis ISD elementary schools, said that classics written in graphic novel form could be attractive to students who are middle to higher-level readers, yet are reluctant to read.
Graphic novels can also be written about historical events, helping students visualize and relate to the event. The stories of the sinking of the Titanic, Harriet Tubman and the Boston Tea Party have all been translated into graphic novels, Montgomery said.
Both the Ennis Public Library and Ennis ISD libraries have graphic novels among their collections. Graphic novels are sturdier than comic books, which makes them easier to loan out at libraries, Montgomery said.
Even if students love to read comic books, they should not be used as a replacement for traditional texts but instead as a beginning or enrichment to a lifelong fondness of reading.
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