Words and pictures offer a perfect mix for beginning readers.
Pictures and illustrations offer clues and contextual information to support new readers in their efforts to create meaning and structure from words on the page. We count on early readers (such as the Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel) and picture books (like the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems) as tools for emerging readers to gain confidence and build essential reading skills, yet comic books remain somewhat marginalized in the literary and education world.
Comics and graphic novels (book length comics) support emerging readers in acquiring beginning reading skills in the same ways and often appeal to reluctant readers when other types of books will not. Yet for many people, comic books remain synonymous with campy superheroes who have no place in the classroom or learning library. Today the medium of sequential storytelling is as diverse as any other in the book world and has more to offer in Lexile Levels than you would anticipate.
For many teachers and literacy tutors, comic books are a desperately needed option for engaging struggling or reluctant readers, and some publishers like Toon Books[i] even have lesson plans and suggestions for guided reading online at no cost.
Carol Tilley, Ph.D., a professor of library and information science at the University of Illinois, says that children benefit from reading comic books and graphic novels at least as much as they do from reading other types of books. “If reading is to lead to any meaningful knowledge or comprehension, readers must approach a text with an understanding of the relevant social, linguistic and cultural conventions,” says Dr. Tilley. “And if you really consider how the pictures and words work together in consonance to tell a story, you can make the case that comics are just as complex as any other kind of literature.” More information on her current research can be found here.
For a passionate and thoughtful analysis of how comic books can be effective tools in schools, take a look at this article by Katie Monnin, Ph.D. and learn more about a new and exciting textbook in the works from the amazing folks at Reading with Pictures.
If you are ready for some great suggestions to use with students from birth to adulthood, check out The Graphic Classroom. This tremendously detailed blog was created by Chris Wilson as a resource for teachers and librarians to help them stock high quality, educational-worthy graphic novels and comics in their classroom or school library.
So the next time you’re searching for a tool to engage a blossoming (or struggling) reader, please give a second thought to comic books.
[i] If you want to learn more about Toon Books, you can check out their titles at the Reading Seed Lending Library.
