I taught a class called Reading Workshop one year. I had no curriculum that year. I had no books to work with. Shoot, I had no furniture in my class when I started. I had to quickly figure out how I was going to make this class work. So, since I was working with struggling readers, one thing I decided to do a monthly book report on a graphic novel. At my first parent teacher conferences that year I had a parent livid that her son had brought home a "comic book." "He should be reading real books." Now, there's a lot to say in defense of Marvel and DC comics as well, but the book he had taken home, a complex and beautifully illustrated version of Beowulf.
Why are parents so anti-comic books? I often tell them about a study I read back in college that contributed a slightly higher amount of vocabulary obtained from comics and graphic novels than to even classic literature. It makes sense. The visual element provides more context clues for new words, especially for students who struggle with reading as a whole.
However, let's delve beyond vocabulary development. Let's look at the classic How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren. In amazing how-to book, there is a section on how to read each kind of genre. They provide three rules on how to read imaginative literature. Let's see how these rules apply to the sublime series Bone that I have just finished reading for the first time.
1. You must classify a work of imaginative literature according to its kind. In other words, what is its genre? Bone relies heavily on myth and fantasy elements. It contains archetypes such as the hero, the mentor, the villain, and the trickster. Mixed into these archetype characters are the comic elements of the Bones. All of these characters are again part of a classic quest plot.
2. You must grasp the unity of the whole work. In other words, can you sum up the story in a sentence or two? This is a test of your own reading comprehension, but it is also a test of the author's vision and understanding of story. I do not want to give away anything for those who have not read the story, but Jeff Smith's story certainly holds up to this. It was one cohesive whole.
3. You must discover how the whole is constructed of its parts. This is the converse of the previous rule. Graphic novels that were originally published in parts are an excellently at this. Each of the nine volumes of Bone build on each other to create the one overarching plot.
Now, if your child was at basketball practice, and you arrived to pick them up and found that the coach had the players running some kind of drill working on specific skills, would you be upset that they weren't playing a game of basketball? Would you say, "They shouldn't be running drills. They should be practicing basketball." There are elements of reading that graphic novels do not address. Reading fluency and complex syntax come to mind. But by removing those elements, the other elements come to the forefront.
Treat everything your child reads as great literature. Ask them about the characters, the plot, the conflict, the climax, and theme. Treat movies they watch in the same way. Or audiobooks they listen to. (I overheard a parent at the library the other day upset that her son had to return a book and could "only find ht audiobook to finish it") Help them develop their understanding and appreciation of story. And they will work to find more great stories. It's not much of leap from Bone to The Lord of the Rings, especially if you have helped your child find the bridge between.
Why are parents so anti-comic books? I often tell them about a study I read back in college that contributed a slightly higher amount of vocabulary obtained from comics and graphic novels than to even classic literature. It makes sense. The visual element provides more context clues for new words, especially for students who struggle with reading as a whole.
However, let's delve beyond vocabulary development. Let's look at the classic How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren. In amazing how-to book, there is a section on how to read each kind of genre. They provide three rules on how to read imaginative literature. Let's see how these rules apply to the sublime series Bone that I have just finished reading for the first time.
1. You must classify a work of imaginative literature according to its kind. In other words, what is its genre? Bone relies heavily on myth and fantasy elements. It contains archetypes such as the hero, the mentor, the villain, and the trickster. Mixed into these archetype characters are the comic elements of the Bones. All of these characters are again part of a classic quest plot.
2. You must grasp the unity of the whole work. In other words, can you sum up the story in a sentence or two? This is a test of your own reading comprehension, but it is also a test of the author's vision and understanding of story. I do not want to give away anything for those who have not read the story, but Jeff Smith's story certainly holds up to this. It was one cohesive whole.
3. You must discover how the whole is constructed of its parts. This is the converse of the previous rule. Graphic novels that were originally published in parts are an excellently at this. Each of the nine volumes of Bone build on each other to create the one overarching plot.
Now, if your child was at basketball practice, and you arrived to pick them up and found that the coach had the players running some kind of drill working on specific skills, would you be upset that they weren't playing a game of basketball? Would you say, "They shouldn't be running drills. They should be practicing basketball." There are elements of reading that graphic novels do not address. Reading fluency and complex syntax come to mind. But by removing those elements, the other elements come to the forefront.
Treat everything your child reads as great literature. Ask them about the characters, the plot, the conflict, the climax, and theme. Treat movies they watch in the same way. Or audiobooks they listen to. (I overheard a parent at the library the other day upset that her son had to return a book and could "only find ht audiobook to finish it") Help them develop their understanding and appreciation of story. And they will work to find more great stories. It's not much of leap from Bone to The Lord of the Rings, especially if you have helped your child find the bridge between.
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