Comics and Literacy

Want a genre of books that combines pictures and text to create a KAPOW of literacy for your kids? Try comics.

Many of us read comics when we were younger, especially the Sunday funnies. These small bits of humor were the best part of getting a newspaper, if you asked 10-year-old me. But comics have started to grow up. Comic books (aka graphic novels) are a great one-two punch of textual literacy and visual literacy. A good comic book will create an engaging story and support early readers as they learn new words and reading skills.

Here's a few reasons to try out comics with your kids:

Encourage a Love of Reading.

“Comic book readers do at least as much reading as non-comic book readers, and the most recent research shows that they read more overall, read more books, and have more positive attitudes toward reading.” -Stephen Krashen, The Power of Reading

Add Vocabulary. 

While the number of words in a comic may be smaller, comic books tend to have more challenging vocabulary levels. Readers can use the pictures to give context clues to words they might not know. One study even noted that graphic novels written for teen and adults had a higher vocabulary level than the average college student.

Create Confidence. 

Comics are often recommended for struggling readers because the combination of images with text leads to easier comprehension which creates confidence in reading skills. Some of the most prolific thinkers, academics, and journalists who struggled with reading as children found comic books to be their gateway to successful reading. 

Develop a Sense of Sequence. 

As with prose books, reading comics develops the ability to keep track of and understand a sequence of events.

Improve Visual Literacy. 

Our world is filled with images that have specific meaning tied to them, and reading comics makes a child more familiar and comfortable with understanding these visual clues.

Develop an Appreciation of Art. 

Have a discussion with your child about the art and its importance in the telling of the story: Why did the artist choose those colors? That style? That shape and size for the panel? The art isn’t there to simplify the work, but rather to clarify.

Comic books aren't meant to replace reading, and most people - both children and adults - who enjoy reading comic books also find themselves enjoying a wide variety of other genres. We have a variety of graphic novels and comic books for all ages - some even have Accelerated Reader tests.

Check out one of these great comic books from the library today!